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We Energies lifts its call for customers to lower thermostats

Pipeline disruption prompted conservation call as Wisconsin was hit with bitter cold temperatures

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a row of watt-hour meters
In this May 6, 2009 photo, watt-hour meters track electricity used by residents of an apartment building in St. Marys, Pa., Wednesday, May 6, 2009. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

We Energies lifted its call for customers to lower thermostats about 12 hours after putting out an emergency request Friday evening that people keep heat set at 60 to 62 degrees because of natural gas supply disruption.

“This morning the amount of natural gas being delivered by interstate pipelines into Wisconsin is back to levels that should meet all customers’ needs,” the utility tweeted at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

We Energies issued the request for customers to conserve energy after the Guardian pipeline, which provides natural gas to their distribution network, “experienced a significant equipment failure” that reduced the amount of fuel they were receiving by 30 percent.

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That came as Wisconsin and the Midwest were in the grip of fiercely cold temperatures, with wind chills of negative 20 to 30 degrees.

We Energies supplies electricity and natural gas to about 2.3 million customers, and its service area covers most of the southeast part of the state including Milwaukee.

On Friday evening, Gov. Tony Evers’ office put out a statement on Twitter that the governor had been briefed about the situation by the Public Service Commission and Wisconsin Emergency Management.

According to a statement from the company, customers appeared to have followed their call to conserve energy on Friday. “As a result of our customers’ support, no customer lost the ability to heat their home,” the company tweeted Saturday morning.