Though Texas-based Atmos Energy issued a warning earlier this week for an urgent need to conserve energy during the historic winter storm, officials said there have not been any supply issues for their service in Kentucky.
“Atmos Energy has not experienced any supply issues in Kentucky nor do we expect any service issues,” Mark Martin, Vice President Public Affairs, said in an email. “While the weather is cold, we’ve had colder weather in the past and our systems held up fine.”
If there were ever a chance of gas running out, Atmos Energy has procedures in place to address any issues.
Atmos released messages on Tuesday and Thursday from their Dallas headquarters saying demand for natural gas was “at unprecedented levels” and that there could be outages — though Martin again stressed there were no supply issues in Kentucky.
“Unfortunately, Texas experienced an extended severe cold period that created service issues for some companies down there,” Martin said. “The severe cold weather has not been limited to Texas and has impacted the daily market.”
Martin said the company was not sure yet if customer bills would be affected, but they are doing what they can to lessen any negative impact.
Atmos has nine proprietary storage assets — including one in Kentucky — from which to draw gas.
“Atmos Energy is still evaluating the impact, if any, of this cold snap,” he said. “The majority of Atmos Energy’s supply will be priced at first of the month index pricing that was not impacted by the current cold snap. Also, Atmos Energy is withdrawing as much gas out of storage as possible to mitigate any impacts of the daily market.”
Martin said many, but not all, of their industrial customers chose a “transportation service” where they purchase their gas from third-party suppliers.
“Atmos Energy then delivers the customer’s gas through our distribution system to their facility,” he said. “Atmos Energy supports this service because it typically allows the industrial customer to save on energy costs year-round.”
While there aren’t supply issues in Kentucky, officials are still offering advice on how to reduce energy usage to keep bills lower and how to stay safe during winter weather.
