Vermont Gas Systems (VGS), the state’s natural gas utility, will pay for and own the underground geothermal loops at Riggs Meadow in Hinesburg, Vermont. The development has 44 townhomes and apartments for low- and moderate-income renters and owners. Drilling is scheduled for early 2027, and residents are expected to move in by late 2027. Nothing is built yet.
Who pays for what
Electrek reports that geothermal serves four multifamily buildings with 36 of the homes, and each building has its own ground loop. Dandelion Energy designs the system and drills the wells. Champlain Housing Trust and Evernorth are the affordable housing developers. VGS covers the upfront cost of the underground infrastructure, while the building owners own the in-building equipment and pay a monthly fee to use the ground loops.
Vermont Public described the model earlier this year. VGS will drill, install, and maintain the loops and sell heat to the nonprofit, much as it sells gas at other properties. Vermont’s Public Utility Commission authorized VGS to use special budget funds for testing emissions-reducing technologies. As VGS CEO Neale Lunderville told Vermont Public: “We literally use the same pipes under the ground.” VGS estimates the initial drilling and installation will cost about $275,000. The whole housing project costs about $20 million, funded by federal and state grants and housing tax credits.
Several townhomes are planned for purchase through a shared equity program run with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. Vermont Public said those are most likely to be built in 2027.
What looks good and what to watch
| Works well | Be careful |
|---|---|
| The utility carries the roughly $275,000 upfront drilling and installation cost (a VGS estimate), not the nonprofit. | The $275,000 is a utility estimate for the initial work and may change. |
| Regulatory filings estimate savings of almost 30 metric tons of CO2 a year versus natural gas, as reported by Vermont Public. | Carbon and efficiency figures are estimates from VGS filings, not measured results. |
| Filings put efficiency roughly 30% higher than air-source heat pumps. | The monthly ground-loop fee, resident heating costs, and rent effects have not been disclosed. |
| Sources describe it as the state’s first neighborhood-scale geothermal project. | Reports give 44 homes for the development but say geothermal serves 36 of them, so check which are connected. Whether other gas utilities will copy the model is unknown. |
The idea is sound on paper: a gas utility using its existing expertise and its customers’ trust to carry the costly part of geothermal. But the numbers that matter most to residents, the fee and the rent, aren’t public, and the project is still a plan.
Why It Matters to You
If you’re a low- or moderate-income renter or buyer in Hinesburg, Riggs Meadow could mean heat and cooling from ground loops that someone else paid to install. Amy Demetrowitz, chief operating officer of Champlain Housing Trust, said the system’s efficiency “allows us to stabilize that energy cost that we’re including in the rent.” That is a goal, not a measured result. Homes aren’t ready until late 2027 at the earliest. If you live elsewhere, the project is a test of whether a gas utility can offer this model more widely.
Questions people ask
Why would a gas utility pay for geothermal? Vermont’s Public Utility Commission authorized VGS to use special funds to test technologies that reduce emissions, and the utility says the same pipe skills apply underground.
Will residents pay less for heat? Not yet shown. The housing trust hopes to stabilize energy costs in rent, and no fee or rent numbers are public.
When will people move in? Drilling is scheduled for early 2027, with residents expected in late 2027.
Sources
- Electrek: A gas utility is picking up the upfront tab for geothermal (Oct 1, 2026)
- Vermont Public: Gas utility and housing trust to build Vermont’s first ever geothermal-heated neighborhood (Mar 30, 2026)
- Renewable Energy Magazine: Dandelion Energy and Vermont Gas Break New Ground with Geothermal Partnership (Oct 8, 2026)