FORT SMITH, Ark. — Because of unprecedented winter weather and a sudden shortage of natural gas from a supplier, Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. (AOG) has curtailed industrial and commercial customers in the Fort Smith metro.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented weather event that is impacting gas supplies throughout the Midwest,” said Fred Kirkwood, chief customer officer of AOG. “Our team has been working around the clock to preserve gas access for our customers. Unfortunately, we’ve been notified that our gas supply is being reduced due to circumstances beyond our control. In order to do everything possible to preserve gas access to our most critical customers including nursing homes, hospitals, churches, and other human needs organizations, industrial customers must reduce their gas load to zero.”
Stacie Smith, AOG public affairs manager, said it is uncertain how many business customers are impacted by the restrictions because the number in each tier fluctuates often.
There are four tiers of customers: Level four, largest customers, which includes the large manufacturing companies; tier three is large business; tier two is small-business; tier-one is residential.
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