Comment by jodrellblank

Leaking gas pipelines cause a disproportionately large amount of greenhouse gas emissions. It's much more efficient and environmentally friendly to pipe gas to a combined-cycle gas turbine power station and then move the electric power to people, than to run an electricity grid anyway and also thousands of miles of aging and leaky gas pipelines so that people can burn gas inefficiently in their homes (with most of the heat wasted into the room and out the window/fume-hood).