Liberty, the biggest natural gas company in the state, says a “full construction schedule” means it can’t install new hookups through at least the end of the year, which is leaving some construction work hanging.

“I hadn’t heard from Liberty,” said Denise Alosa, who is building a house in south Concord with gas-fired utilities including the heating system. “I called them ... She said, ‘sorry but we’re done – we’re doing no more installs for the rest of the year.’ ”

Alosa, who said the house is “ready for mechanicals” to be connected, was told she should get a temporary propane connection until Liberty is able to connect her to the gas pipeline along the street. “I said, who’s going to pay for that? It’s not free!”

She is waiting for more information.

Liberty released a statement Thursday saying they “encourage any individuals considering building or renovating to contact us first to determine if service is feasible. We keep a list of all who ask about service and will let individuals know if resources become available.”

The suspension of new connections applies only to Liberty’s natural gas service. It also provides electric service in 22 communities, along the Connecticut River and in the state’s southeast corner.

Liberty operates under various constraints as a state-regulated utility. The company notified the state on July 15 that it was halting new connections north of Concord because it had run out of capacity on the pipeline that runs from Concord to its yard in Tilton, according to  Consumer Advocate Donald Kreis. Kreis said he was not aware of a more extensive halt in new connections throughout its service area, although he said that appears to be allowed under the company’s regulated tariffs.

Liberty provides natural gas to about 98,000 gas customers in 30 New Hampshire towns and cities up the center of New Hampshire, including Concord and five surrounding towns, from a pipeline network that stretches from Nashua to Laconia. Liberty also serves the cities of Berlin and Keene with stand-alone systems.

“The combination of construction projects, including those that support local town and city infrastructure improvements, along with an increase of new service requests has resulted in a full construction schedule through the end of the year. This is not unusual as there are a limited number of qualified resources for this type of work,” said the statement issued in response to a query from the Monitor.

“From previous years’ experience, we also know this is a dynamic situation as other projects may change or reach com pletion. We continue to monitor scheduled projects and resource availability and work with local contractors to obtain mor e crews. If and when they become available, we will assess additional requests and plan accordingly.”

David Brooks can be reached at 603-369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com