Historical Highlights
Bay State Gas has been serving the energy needs of New Englanders for over 160 years.
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 Northampton 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.
1999 Bay State Gas merges with NiSource, Inc. to form the10th 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.
2007 Bay State Gas celebrates 160 years of service.
2008 Northern Utilities and Granite State Gas Transmission are sold to Unitil Corporation.
2010 Bay State Gas becomes Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, joining NiSource natural gas distribution companies under the Columbia umbrella.