Customer service and metering work directly with customers.
A call center deals with your request for service in billing and service complaints.
They also deal with emergencies like digging near a gas line or reports of smelling gas.
Dispatch issues written endure electronic work orders to technicians.
Those technicians could be installing or replacing meters,
turning your gas on or off,
relighting home appliances following a service interruption,
or even just sending someone quickly if there is a suspected leak.
Let me now talk about some typical classes of gas service.
There are generally two types of service, firm and interruptible.
Residential service is always firm and
we are guaranteed service or natural gas no matter what.
Interruptible service means that your supplies of
gas may be curtailed with little notice.
Industrial users are usually offered
interruptible service and may get a better price if they accept it.
It's important to really understand the components of a residential natural gas bill.
So, let's take a minute and go over this.
In your monthly bill,
you not only pay for the gas you use,
but the maintenance of the distribution system,
plus a profit for the natural gas utility.
The customer charge is really for the gas meter that is measuring how much gas you use.
The distribution charge is actually
the charge for the therms or the volume of gas you actually use.
This is measured in dollars per therm.
A therm is a commonly used gas measurement by natural gas utilities.
It's equivalent to 1,000 cubic feet or one million BTU of natural gas.
The purchase gas adjustment in your natural gas bill is a pass through
charge from the gas utility for
the cost of the natural gas that it buys on the open market.
The utility does not make any profit on this item.