Customers help Avista avert natural gas crisis over weekend cold snap: ‘We know it was a hardship’

The message arrived to Avista at about 12:30 p.m. Friday: The pipeline that provides natural gas for about 377,000 customers across four states had lost a compressor station in Canada, just as the region’s temperatures began to plunge.

Within eight hours, company officials took the extraordinary step of asking customers to ease their use of natural gas during the coldest temperatures in more than a year.

What those officials did not share with customers were the hours of conversations between engineers and the operators of a second pipeline about how quickly they could replace the natural gas supply in case things worsened.

“It was several things,” said Scott Kinney, Avista’s vice president of energy resources. “One was the conversation with TC (Energy) and their remaining issues with getting compression on line and how long it would take to build up in our system.

“Number two was the impact other providers could make to help us solve the problem. Number three was remedies we could take as a utility.”

The last piece, he added, was issuing the news release.

Kevin Holland, Avista’s director of energy supply, explained that unlike electricity, which comes from hydroelectric dams, natural-gas generation plants, coal plants and wind farms, natural gas can come from anywhere.

While Avista has a “broad range of suppliers” of natural gas, it must be moved through large-pressurized pipelines that pump the gas into smaller diameter pipelines, called mains, that then push the gas into still smaller lines that go directly to homes and buildings.

TC Energy, of Calgary, Alberta, operates one of those large-pressurized pipelines, which last week lost its pressure and therefore most of its ability to send the natural gas to Avista.

“It was never a lack of gas. It’s an impact on the time” of delivery, Holland said. “Just like air seeping out of your tire. The supply was reduced.”

Kinney, the vice president, explained that Avista doesn’t “really have the ability to store gas in our direct service territory, so we do have to take gas delivery from the pipe,” he said.

Holland said TC Energy never gave specifics about how the compressor station failed. It took about 12 hours to fix. TC Energy did not respond Tuesday to requests for an interview.

But during the scramble to find solutions, Avista officials looked south.

Avista has access to a second major pipeline, the Williams pipeline, which has a 4,000-mile transmission system that starts on the West Side , travels along Interstate 84 through Oregon, Idaho, Utah and on to Colorado. It also connects to Avista’s infrastructure.

Asked if access to the two major pipelines was luck or by design, Holland replied: “I would say both. We are fortunate geographically to have access to both pipelines.”

Shutting off supply from the TC Energy pipeline and transferring it immediately to the Williams pipeline could work “potentially,” Holland said. “But there would have to be a combination of circumstances to allow that to occur.”

In the meantime, Avista decided to ask customers for help.

Holland said he’s worked at Avista for 20 of the last 25 years, and he could not remember another instance in which the utility asked users for help as it did on Friday.

Apparently, it worked.

“We did indeed see a drop in demand. Our customers had a large impact in reducing stress to the system during the cold snap,” Holland said.

As of Tuesday, he did not yet have the exact numbers to quantify the reduction of natural gas use.

“Suffice to say, it was enough for us to maintain the integrity of the system,” Holland said.

Utility officials announced Saturday night that TC Energy (formally known as TransCanada Corporation) repaired the mechanical problems with its natural gas compressor stations, and the crisis was averted.

Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns said on Tuesday that he was concerned when he learned about Avista’s problems, given the cold weather. He noted that the utility is usually pretty good about communicating with the public when something comes up.

“You never like to see that when it’s cold, but I understand they had their reasons,” Kerns said. “I’m with Avista, too, so I got those emails, as well.”

Kinney, the vice president, echoed the sentiment of Heather Rosentrater, Avista’s president and chief operating officer, who issued a statement over the weekend praising customers for their efforts.

“Avista really wants to thank our customers,” Kinney said. “We do appreciate the actions they did take, because it really did stabilize our system both days. We know it was a hardship. Again, we are so thankful for the response we did get.”

Spokesman-Review reporter Nick Gibson contributed to this report.