Anchorage residents are facing a stark warning as winter planning comes into focus.
Enstar, the region’s largest gas utility, says its gas supply could come up short by more than two weeks this winter even under normal conditions.
Here’s what to know
Enstar President John Sims recently told lawmakers at a legislative hearing that “Enstar is 18 days short of gas … and that’s for normal temperatures,” according to Alaska’s News Source. Enstar currently supplies more than 136,000 customers. But as local supplies continue to fall, lawmakers fear the problem may become a crisis.
“If the temperature is warm, it will look like I’m fearmongering and I’m crying wolf,” Sims told officials, per Alaska’s News Source, adding, “If it is cold, we’ll all experience the cautions and the concern that the utility has… The time where we can start asking for a short-term solution that is at a low cost” has come and gone…