The recent extreme weather throughout most of the country has caused unprecedented levels of service interruptions to gas and electric utility customers throughout the southwest, especially in the state of Texas.

Gas utilities in Arizona rely heavily on natural gas produced in the parts of Texas where extremely cold weather, snow and ice have caused power outages and stopped the production and transportation of natural gas, which Texas heavily relies upon to generate electric energy, according to a release.

The state of Arizona has been fortunate that enough gas producing wells and interstate pipelines in the Texas panhandle have maintained the ability to send natural gas west to New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered natural gas producers in Texas not to export product out of the state until Feb. 21 and instead sell it to providers within Texas. This order could jeopardize the ability of the city of Mesa’s gas utility to acquire sufficient supplies to meet its customers’ requirements.

As a result, the city of Mesa is asking its natural gas customers to conserve and curtail any non-essential uses of natural gas for the next several days.

Mesa is also anticipating a significant increase in the costs of natural gas supplies while the extreme weather causes potential supply shortages and high demand. The energy conserved, or that is not used, will allow the city to avoid purchasing gas supplies while prices are very high.