PENSACOLA, FL – The City of Pensacola, Fla., and the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) have opened a new compressed natural gas fueling station. The City and utility plan to fuel 80 of their CNG fleet vehicles at the station. CNG at the station is priced at $2.05 per gallon equivalent. The station has four fast-fill hoses and 90 time-fill dispensers for overnight fueling.

The City announced its intention to transition its and ECUA's fleet to natural gas in October of 2011.

According to the City, Pensacola, its natural gas utility Pensacola Energy, and the ECUA partnered to build the $1.8 million station at the utility’s sanitation facility. These organizations contracted with Zeit Energy of Dallas for the project.

The utility’s Executive Director Steve Sorrell said ECUA is projecting savings of $350,000 or more in maintenance and about $900,000 in fuel savings.

For the fuel itself, ECUA finalized a 10-year agreement with Pensacola Energy. The company will operate and maintain the station, and ECUA will pay a monthly transportation charge and an indexed price-per-diesel-gallon equivalent of CNG fuel that ECUA vehicles will use.