CoServ recognizes gas technicians

Photos by BRIAN ELLEDGE
Photos by BRIAN ELLEDGE

Just days before Christmas, a cold front hit North Texas, plunging temperatures into the single digits. While people spent time with family, cooking meals and heating their homes with CoServ Gas, an army of Gas Technicians were working around the clock to keep the pressure flowing through the chilly holiday.

“One of the biggest sacrifices I had to make a lot of times was leaving family,” said Doneld Williams, who worked as a Gas Service Technician before becoming a Gas Service Manager. “Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries – you’re just not there. Especially with a winter storm coming in, when the temperature drops, the pressure drops, we’re out there monitoring pressure 24/7.”

March 18 is Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day, the perfect time to recognize the CoServ Gas Technicians who work hard to ensure safe, reliable delivery of natural gas.

While winter storms are the busiest time for CoServ Gas, they stay busy on regular days connecting and setting up meters, searching for gas leaks and responding to hit gas lines. CoServ Gas serves more than 150,000 meters, and the system continues to add hundreds more per month.

If you see a gas technician in your community, stop and thank them for the work they do in all weather and at all times of day.

Did you know?

Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day was created because of an explosion at the New London School in East Texas. The 1937 disaster led to the odorization of natural gas and an increased emphasis on safety.

Ways you can help CoServ Gas technicians:

  • Adjust your thermostat down
    On the coldest winter days, technicians can often be found monitoring regulator stations (see the February edition of Texas Co-op Power for more). They manually increase pressure to ensure the Gas Customers at the end of the line don’t lose service.
  • Answer the door if possible
    CoServ Gas technicians respond to suspected gas leaks at all hours. Sometimes the house they respond to isn’t the source of the leak so the CoServ Employee has to go door-to-door to find where it’s coming from – even if it’s the middle of the night. CoServ Employees will always wear proper identification as well as CoServ branded clothing, hats and vehicles.
CoServ gas crew (Steven Mayer, Jesse Garcia Romo and David Lanzi put a new cap on a 2 inch gas line to make way for the widening of First St in Propsper.