A natural gas company is asking some of its customers to turn down the heat.
UGI is asking customers these communities to help conserve gas because of the predicted cold weather:
- Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County;
- Renovo, Clinton County;
- Easton, Northampton County;
- Jim Thorpe and Lehighton, Carbon County
Most people wouldn't think about turning down the heat much on these bitter cold nights but UGI is asking natural gas customers in communities in our area to conserve Thursday and Friday night, including adjusting the thermostat to 65 or lower.
Patrice Bjorkman says depending on the conditions, she often adjusts her thermostat in Lehighton.
Now, UGI wants her to turn her heat to 65 or below the next two nights.
"We can do that no problem absolutely. We have this little electric fireplace and we dress warm at night so that won't be a problem for us at all," Bjorkman said.
Bjorkman plans to turn down her natural gas heater in the basement, too.
UGI asks people in these locations to voluntarily cut back on gas usage overnight Thursay and Friday night through 9 a.m.
Bjorkman admits this isn't an easy request for everyone.
"Probably for the elderly, maybe for small babies, but you can just dress warmer, bundle up."
UGI says these communities impacted are at the end of its distribution system. With so much demand, they want to make sure there's enough gas to get here and go around to all the homes and businesses.
Michael Ciavaglia uses gas fireplaces to do most of his home heating. He got a robo-call from UGI asking him to cut back.
"It didn't say why. It just said that because of the extreme cold conditions that they're expecting, that everyone should try to reduce gas consumption and set thermostat to 65 degrees."
UGI says the pipes can only carry so much gas at once. There's plenty of gas supply but a lot of customers taking a lot of gas before it gets here. The company wants to make sure everyone they serve stays warm
"Without heat, at this time of year, you're going to be in dire straits," Ciavaglia said. "If it means turning the heat down, I'm all for it."
UGI says it is making numerous adjustments to make sure there are no outages in this extreme cold.
The gas company says the most important time to conserve in those communities the next two mornings is between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. when many people wake up and turn the heat up.
They say this request is out of an abundance of caution.
Customers with questions or concerns can contact the UGI Call Center at 800-276-2722 for additional information.
