SoCal Gas Will Curtail Supply to Utilities
Southern California Gas Co. will cut natural gas deliveries by more than two-thirds to electrical utilities starting Nov. 1 to save enough gas to cover demand from homes and small businesses during cold-weather months, gas company officials said Tuesday.
The gas company will cut deliveries to Southern California Edison Co., the Department of Water and Power, the Imperial Irrigation District and the cities of Pasadena, Burbank and Glendale, said gas company spokesman Ralph A. Cohen.
“With very high continuing demand from the utility electrical generation customers, we just can’t meet our storage goal of 67.5 billion cubic feet by Dec. 1,” Cohen said.
The curtailment of cleaner-burning gas--only the most recent of several over the past two years--could force the electrical utilities to burn dirtier oil to generate power.
But Edison, the gas company’s largest customer, has saved 4.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas under a new storage program and could use it in part to offset the curtailment, said Edison spokesman Lewis M. Phelps.
Edison officials were to meet with gas company officials on Friday to decide how to meet the shortfall, Phelps said.
He added that the gas company had promised 100% delivery of natural gas during smog episode days in November.
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