WTPU Hosts Fifth Annual Community Information Session

McKENZIE (September 19) — West Tennessee Public Utilities, the local natural gas distributor, hosted its fifth annual community informational session on Thursday, September 19. The annual event provides information on the work and progress of the local utility district and also to alert government leaders and first responders about how to safely work with natural gas.

West Tennessee Public Utilities has 17,000 customers with 1,000 miles of main pipeline. It serves Carroll, Benton, Weakley and portions of Henry and Henderson counties.

The company’s leaders and workers pride themselves on provide quality natural gas at a reasonable price as they continue to be good public servants in their many roles throughout the company.

Madison Endres, marketing manager, spoke about how she speaks to every fourth grade classroom to tell students about natural gas. Natural gas is extracted from the ground and is odorless and colorless. The odor is added for safety reasons.

If one smells natural gas, he or she should evacuate the area and call WTPU or 911. WTPU has emergency crews on call 24/7.

Curt Taylor with WTPU demonstrated how just a small level of natural gas can be hazardous if contained in a home. He urged everyone to leave the premises and do not attempt to open window to evacuate the gas. The more important consequence is to evacuate one’s self.

Brent Dillahunty, general manager of WTPU, said natural gas is domestically-produced energy source. It is distributed through major pipelines to local distributors. WTPU is privileged to have two natural gas pipelines connected to its system.

From well extrication to final use, approximately five percent of the energy is lost, said Dillahunty. That compares to 38 percent efficiency of electricity as it is generated and transmitted.

The capacity of the major gas lines is limited. Now more and more electricity is being generated by burning natural gas. In the coming years, the TVA Cumberland Fossil Fuel will convert from coal to natural gas. Thirty percent of TVA’s generation is created by using natural gas.

Each time a steam generation plant is switched from coal to natural gas reduces the amount of available natural gas in the pipelines. WTPU and other distributors are then limited in the amount of additional natural gas they have to offer to existing customers or prospective industries.

Artificial intelligence, produced by massive computers, also consumes massive amounts of electricity. Dillahunty said these A.I. companies are attempting to locate where the electricity is less expensive, even if they need to produce the electricity on-site through the burning of natural gas.