Consider solar mats for heating as well if you haven't already. We are in the SE area of Wisconsin. Have a 27 foot - 54 inch above ground and use 4 2 x 20 mats. Last year we averaged 84 - 86 without the use of the solar cover. We are pretty windy here and should use the cover but hate pulling it off and putting it on.

I'd continue talking to the folks at the Gas Co. myself. What would happen if one of the workers hit the gas line? What would the company do in an emergency situation? We had a worker hit a line when we were working on a home in the East Bay area and it was a scary situation, but PGE responded quickly and turned it off via a line in the street. One would think they could kill the feed long enough to install a valve somewhere along the line without tearing up everything. Then, when the construction is finished they'd use as much as possible of the existing line and add new where needed. Sometimes you have to call the gas company several times to find someone willing to work out the problem! As sierra said, the line up to the meter can only be worked on by the gas company.

"In both cases I dealt with there was corrugated steel tubing involved. " The connections made between CST and other [portions of the system are mechanical connections and many use non-conducting material to achieve a seal. A problem then occurs if lightning induced transients occur on the CST. It is not effectively grounded and arcing can occur at the connections as the induced voltages seek ground You have to remember that every conductor in a time varying magnetic field has currents induced. If the field is strong enough or changes quickly enough the induced voltages can be very high. Lightning has BOTH large high amplitude magnetic fields AND rapid changes in the amplitude (tens of nanoseconds rise time and thousands of microseconds decay with an overall duration in the hundreds of microseconds to low millisecond range). Currents can be tens of thousands of amps, resulting in large magnetic fields. These are the same induced voltages that can damage LAN equipment at hundreds of yards from an actual strike.

I am in the Midwest also and paid a reputable plumber $300 to run the gas line from the furnace up thru the basement ceiling and over to the back of the stove. I believe it was also him who hooked up the range to the gas & everything. I had started out with 2 smoothtop electric ranges, yes, 2 because we had scratching issues with both, so the 3rd time, I said the heck with it, I'm switching to a gas range that I can at least clean without worrying that I'm wrecking the top of it every time. Also, I had not cooked on a gas stove since early marriage 30 years ago, so I had to relearn it a little, but I can tell you both my DH and I both like to cook and we both really like the gas range. Also, here, we were told that a plumber would have to install a gas line. We also just put in a gas fireplace so the gas line was already there for that so we kind of killed 2 birds with one stone. Hope this helps!