Gas-buying consortium sounds like good idea

The costs of heating a home can be staggering. Imagine that expense multiplied to keep 4,500 students warm for eight hours a day all winter.

But Jackson School District officials believe they've found a way to cut their $16,000 monthly winter natural gas bill. This month, they're on track to join a program sponsored by the Missouri School Boards Association. Through it, the district could save $37,000 over the next three years.

The idea is to buy the gas as a group. Forty school districts already are signed up for the program, including Chaffee, Sikeston and Charleston.

There are some drawbacks: a one-time $10,000 "pipeline capacity release fee" -- basically a sign-up fee -- and the inability to put every meter on the program, which means continuing a relationship with Atmos Energy Corporation while doing business with the consortium.

But this sort of risk-taking has been done with a lot of thought and virtual guarantees of savings.

It is an example of good government in action for the districts that choose to take part.