In 1973, Premier Lougheed of Alberta wanted all Albertans to be able to use clean and affordable natural gas for heating their homes. He approached the 2 existing natural gas providers in the province and asked them to expand their service footprint. They did not want to invest in rural Alberta. So, the Premier passed the Rural Gas Act and natural gas Co-ops were started. Initially there were 85 Gas Co-ops in the province. Today there are 81 Gas Co-ops, County, Municipal and First Nation users.
Most Co-ops including ours was started by a small group of farmers that wanted to get rid of Stove Oil, Coal and Propane. They met at farmers kitchen tables and started a plan. Each Co-op was given a Franchise Area that they could serve. Sign up visits were made to every farmer/ homeowner in the Franchise area. The initial cost for gas hookup was $1700.00. They were ground breakers and forward-thinking people. It was a time-consuming task to begin with, but excitement grew and soon they were engineering and design planning. Routing of gas lines from Supply sites had to be planned and Utility Right of Ways signed, Contracts executed, and the work began. Most of Chief Mountain Gas pipe came from California and there were some delays once ordered. Material management and orders was a huge task in and of itself.
Credit goes to the original founders and management to complete this ginormous task they had. In 1974 Chief Mountain started plowing gas lines, most were completed by early 1975. The first customer was connected and burning natural gas on April 1, 1975.
In 2002 we amalgamated with Summerview Gas Co-op, they had previously amalgamated with Livingstone Gas Co-op.
Today Chief Mountain Gas Co-op has 1720 Customers, 1188 Members, we serve customers in Cardston County, MD of Pincher Creek, Willow Creek, and Ranchlands, County of Warner, Waterton Lakes National Park and Port of Piegan in USA.
Chief Mountain Gas Co-op offers the following Benefits to Members of Gas Co-op:
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