STL Pipeline Customer Communication

Dear valued customer,

At Spire Missouri, we’re here to keep you and your family safe and warm—and to keep you informed about potential events that could impact your natural gas service. That’s our commitment and responsibility to you. 

Status of the Spire STL Pipeline
As we mentioned to you in our last communication about your service, on Nov. 18, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—the government agency responsible for regulating interstate pipelines—held its monthly open meeting. And although we still lack the certainty of an official approval for continued operation of the Spire STL Pipeline for the full winter heating season, we’re encouraged by the FERC Commissioners’ statements committing to act before the current approval expires on Dec. 13. Based on these impressions, the Spire STL Pipeline seems poised to receive approval from the FERC to operate throughout this winter.  

Additional information about natural gas supply
Recently, the Missouri Public Service Commission (the state agency that regulates investor-owned utilities like Spire) suggested that customers could benefit from additional information about the natural gas supply situation for this upcoming winter heating season. And while gas supply is a complicated business, we’ll do our best to explain the basics, but also give you resources with lots of details. 

Where do we get our natural gas supply?
The natural gas we deliver to your home or business starts underground in other states across America. Spire Missouri buys this gas and buys transportation services on the interstate pipeline systems to bring the fuel to the St. Louis area, at no markup to customers. This gas is delivered to St. Louis by four different interstate pipelines, including the Spire STL Pipeline. 

When deciding how much gas to buy for St. Louis, Spire Missouri’s gas supply team studies weather patterns over the past 75 years. Then Spire Missouri buys enough gas, and enough space on interstate pipelines, to serve all 650,000 homes and businesses on the coldest possible day.

Our job is to be ready for the harshest weather so that no matter how cold it gets for how long, Spire is ready to keep you safe and warm every day. We take that job seriously, and our plans for how we will supply the region are submitted and reviewed by the Commission Staff.  

Without the Spire STL Pipeline, we wouldn’t have enough pipeline space to deliver all the gas needed to serve St. Louis customers under the coldest conditions. Because this Pipeline could be taken out of service, we’re working on contingency plans to find other alternative sources to deliver gas this winter. But there’s just not enough capacity on other pipelines to guarantee that Spire Missouri will obtain the quantity of gas the region needs for peak days. That’s why we’re continuing to do everything possible to keep the Spire STL Pipeline fully operational, just like it has been for the last two years. 

Timeline of recent events impacting the Spire STL Pipeline 
To understand how we’ve come to a crossroads regarding whether or not we can drive natural gas through the safe, fully operational Spire STL Pipeline, here’s a quick history:

• On June 22, 2021, a federal court in Washington, D.C. ordered the FERC to revoke the operating permit for the Spire STL Pipeline. This permit was issued in 2018.
• On September 14, 2021, the FERC issued a temporary emergency certificate to keep the pipeline operating through December 13, 2021.
•  In order for the Spire STL Pipeline to continue delivering gas to St. Louis beyond December 13, 2021, FERC must issue a new operating certificate.  
• On November 18, 2021, in a FERC open meeting, the FERC Chairman stated that he intends to take action on a new operating certificate before December 13, 2021. Based upon their comments during the meeting, there was additional support for this action among some FERC Commissioners. We are all hoping the FERC will take action soon.
• However, as of this date, a new operating certificate has not yet been issued by the FERC.

We’ll keep you updated in the days to come
We’ll continue doing everything possible to ensure you and your family—and homes and businesses across the greater St. Louis region—have access to reliable, affordable energy this winter through the continued operation of the Spire STL Pipeline. 

As promised, we’ll keep sharing information as we have updates, including reports on upcoming decisions from the FERC regarding the operating status of the Spire STL Pipeline. 

Please continue visiting SpireEnergy.com/Critical for information and additional updates about the Spire STL Pipeline situation.

For tips on how to reduce your natural gas usage during cold weather and especially during peak cold weather days, please visit SpireEnergy.com/Tips.