Natural gas utilities kept the heat on during January’s polar vortex
Natural gas utility employees worked around the clock to ensure reliable service during a Midwest cold snap in late January, culminating in a national record-breaking day of gas consumption.
A new single-day record of 150 billion cubic feet was set on Jan. 30, surpassing the prior record set on Jan. 1, 2018.
Breaking its own record for delivering the most natural gas in a single day, Nicor Gas delivered more than 4.8 Bcf of natural gas—equal to 5,480 Olympic-sized swimming pools—to its 2.2 million customers throughout northern Illinois, Jennifer Golz, manager, public relations and media relations for Nicor Gas, told American Gas.
More than 7,000 customer calls were received at the Nicor Gas customer contact center, and field operations responded to nearly 1,500 emergency calls for service during the two days of the most extreme subzero weather on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, Golz said. There were no major service outages during the weather event.
Dominion Energy Ohio announced a record heating load of 2.24 Bcf on Jan. 30, breaking its previous mark of 2.22 Bcf set Dec. 22, 2000. On Jan. 31, the company recorded a heating load of 2.02 Bcf. The utility drew about half those volumes from its storage system.
“Storage was instrumental in meeting customers’ needs during this recent cold snap,” Jim Eck, Dominion Energy vice president and general manager, Ohio & West Virginia Distribution, told American Gas. “Our storage is positioned perfectly in the Akron-Canton-Cleveland area.”
While planning for each winter heating season, the utility said it arranges to secure natural gas supplies to accommodate a systemwide daily average temperature of minus 13 degrees, comparable to the lowest temperatures experienced in the winters of 1976–77 and 1977–78, the two coldest winters in Ohio history.
“We also credit our suppliers and marketers for their flexibility and ability to deliver natural gas wherever it is needed on our system to maintain system integrity, reliability and deliverability during these periods of high customer demand,” Eck said.
Columbia Gas of Ohio had a 24-hour average gas day temperature of minus 3 degrees on Jan. 30. The total throughput was 2,570,000 dekatherms, a second all-time high for Columbia Gas of Ohio, William Loomer, manager, communications and community relations, told American Gas. The all-time high was on Jan. 18, 1994, at minus 18 degrees with a total throughput of 2,642,815 dekatherms.