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Gas Line Repair in Hillsborough, NJ
76% of households in Hillsborough heat with utility gas, which means a buried service line runs from the street to a meter on most of these properties. Where that line ends is a federal definition, and it decides who repairs what.
Read this first
The utility's regulated line ends at the meter outlet and the piping beyond it belongs to the property owner. That boundary decides most gas line questions in Hillsborough, where 76% of households heat with utility gas and a buried service line runs from the street on most properties.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey table B25040; the service line boundary is 49 CFR § 192.3.
If you smell gas right now
Leave the building on foot. Do not use a phone or a light switch inside. Call 911 and your gas utility from somewhere else, and do not call us — we are a referral service, not an emergency line. The full list, in order.
How Hillsborough is supplied
Everything upstream of the meter outlet is the operator’s service line under 49 CFR § 192.3. Everything after it is customer piping under local code. That single point is what a contractor establishes before quoting.
It is also why the answer to "is this my problem" is sometimes no, and why it is worth asking before assuming it is yes.
| Households in Hillsborough | Share |
|---|---|
| Utility (mains) gas | 76% |
| Bottled or tank propane | 1% |
| Electricity | 16% |
| Fuel oil and kerosene | 6% |
| Wood and everything else | 1% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25040 (house heating fuel), 2023 release. Universe: 15,918 occupied housing units. What B25040 measures is the heating fuel, not the connection. It is the closest published proxy for whether there is a buried service line here, and it is a proxy. Service line definition: 49 CFR § 192.3, via PHMSA interpretation PI-12-0003.
Across New Jersey as a whole, 74% of households are on mains gas and 2% on tank propane. Hillsborough sits about level with the state on mains and 1 point below it on propane. Averages are where this kind of difference disappears. The figures on this page are the town’s own for that reason.
Before anyone digs on the property
8-1-1 is free and nationwide, and PHMSA gives callers a 99 percent chance of avoiding an incident, injury or worse. Ask them what they will and will not mark: privately owned buried lines on your own side of the meter frequently are not covered.
Source: PHMSA, 811 Day.
What to ask whoever quotes it
If any part of the job is in the ground, ask when they are calling 8-1-1 and whether a private line may be in the way. Both answers should come before the excavation, not during it.
Other New Jersey towns we route in
- Lakehurst 62% mains gas · 1% tank propane
- Merchantville 74% mains gas · 2% tank propane
- South Orange 77% mains gas · 3% tank propane
- Closter 83% mains gas · 4% tank propane
- Township Of Washington 93% mains gas · 1% tank propane
Checking a plumber in New Jersey
New Jersey licenses are issued by the New Jersey State Board of Examiners of Master Plumbers, Division of Consumer Affairs, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.
Gas work is separately permitted and separately licensed in most jurisdictions, so ask specifically about gas rather than plumbing in general.
For repair work, not for a suspected leak.If you can smell gas, leave and call 911 or your utility from outside; this is the wrong number for that. For everything else — a line, a meter, an appliance connection — we will route you to a contractor covering your area, free of charge to you. We serve Hillsborough for plumbing that has nothing to do with gas.
Call (888) 752-8038