Given lower price of natural gas, is there a benefit for being close to the development?

Absolutely. Historically, local utilities had to transport natural gas from the Gulf coast of the United States and the Midwest to serve their customers. With that transportation, comes added costs. By sourcing gas locally, some utilities no longer have to transport gas from hundreds of miles away, in turn saving ont eh transportation costs. Ove the past few years (between 2008-2011), the region’s largest natural gas utilities – PECO, NFG, PGW, Columbia, Equitable, UGI, UGI Penn, and Peoples – averaged a 41.25% cut in rates for consumers, equating to nearly $3,200 in average savings per customer during that period.