| 1847 |
Springfield Gas Light Company is founded to light the city's streets. |
| 1878 |
Springfield Gas Light Company begins running steam lines and providing gas heat to buildings. |
| 1893 |
Springfield Gas Light Company begins setting and removing "quarter meters" or "prepay meters" to measure gas use. |
1950s &
1960s |
Thousands of miles of gas pipelines are constructed to connect the Northeast with natural gas fields in the Southwestern and Gulf Coast states. New England customers are converted from locally manufactured gas to natural gas. |
| 1974 |
Bay State Gas Company is formed through the merger of the Brockton Taunton Gas Company, the Springfield Gas Light Company, the Northamptom Gas Light Company and the Lawrence Gas Company. |
| 1979 |
Northern Utilities, Inc. becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bay State Gas, along with Granite State Gas Transmission, Inc., an interstate natural gas pipeline company. |
| 1996 |
Bay State Gas offers one of America's first Customer Choice pilot programs, which enables residential customers to choose their own natural gas suppliers. |
| 1997 |
Bay State Gas celebrates its 150th anniversary. |
| 1999 |
Bay State Gas merges with NiSource Inc. to form the 10th largest natural gas distribution company in the nation. |
| 2000 |
NiSource Inc. merges with Columbia Energy Group to establish the largest U.S. natural gas distributor east of the Rocky Mountains, with wholesale and retail gas and electric operations. |
