Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 18, 1994                   TAG: 9401180038
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE GAS CO. SAID MONDAY IT PASSED ITS

The sub-zero temperatures over the weekend resulted in record use of gas by Roanoke Gas customers.

The company distributed 76.98 million cubic feet for the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. Sunday. That beat the previous record of 65.9 million cubic feet set on Dec. 22, 1969.

Monday's gas distribution of roughly 66 million cubic feet also beat the old record.

"Yesterday's low of minus 2 represented a major challenge, one that we had not experienced in four years," Roanoke Gas President Frank Farmer said.

Under new federal regulations that went into effect Nov. 1, local gas distribution companies are responsible for securing their own supplies and transportation on pipelines. Before the change, the pipelines acted as middlemen between producers and local distributors.

Art Pendleton, Roanoke Gas vice president of operations, said the new arrangement worked well. The gas companies are in a better position to know what their needs will be than the pipelines, which in the past had estimated local needs, he said.

The company had good supplies in face of the record weekend demand and didn't have any serious problems in meeting customer needs, Pendleton said.

To meet Sunday's demand, the company drew 24.5 million cubic feet of gas from the company's liquified natural gas storage tank in Botetourt County. The tank's maximum daily output is 25 million cubic feet.

The company will replenish the 200 million-gallon tank with supplies trucked in from Alabama, Pendleton said.

The company did experience some low-pressure problems in the Raleigh Court area, he said. Gas moves more slowly as temperatures fall.

The number of gas customers has grown in the Raleigh Court area since the system last was taxed as heavily as it was over the weekend, Pendleton said. The growth is due in part to some customers switching to gas from other forms of heating and to a new school and church in the area, he said.

The weekend's pressure problem told the company that a study is needed of the distribution system in that area, Pendleton said. Farmer added that the system would be upgraded to accommodate the growth.

Farmer warned that customers should expect higher gas bills because of the increased use.