RIVERTON - Utility provider SourceGas is looking at installing pipelines that would deliver natural gas to homes on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Many homes in communities such as Ethete and Fort Washakie on the reservation rely on tanks filled with the more costly propane for heating and other uses.

"Currently, there are 560 customers on the reservation with natural gas service," said Norm Long, business relations representative of SourceGas in Wyoming. "We've identified in the fall of '06 approximately 1,580 potential (new customers) … that do not have natural gas service with the majority of them being serviced by propane."

The annual savings of using natural gas instead of propane is about $1,170, he said.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said switching reservation homes from propane to natural gas could save up to a total of $500,000 in one year.

"It's gigantic," Case said. "We're talking about right now when it's critical. We're going into a heating season where the prices are going to be off the roof."

SourceGas is still working to determine how much it will cost to install the pipeline infrastructure.

In order to help offset the pipeline's installation costs for customers, SourceGas proposed a new type of long-term payment plan that the Wyoming Public Service Commission approved in July.

Called an extra incentive allowance, the payment plan will allow customers to make monthly payments toward the total installation cost. They can chose to pay from as little as $20 a month to $50 a month.

Costs could amount to as little as $20 monthly for 180 months to pay for the pipeline installation and connection to a home, Long said.

"If you have to come up with $4,000 or $5,000 up front that's a pretty significant amount of money," he said. "By being able to put it as a fixed cost as a monthly bill that way it allows you to reduce that upfront cost."