The City of Fulton is encouraging city residents to conserve natural gas this week.
This request comes after severe weather across the country. The weather has put a strain on the natural gas system and electric market across the country, according to a release.
"The City of Fulton encourages everyone to conserve natural gas as best they can in order to reduce the demand on this critical energy source," a release from the City of Fulton states.
To assist in reducing the amount of natural gas used, all city buildings in Fulton have adjusted thermostats. Reducing thermostats by a few degress can "reduce and alleviate excessive usage," according to a release.
Citizens in Fulton are urged to decrease their thermostats by three to five degrees, as this will help reduce the demand on national and local systems during the period of severe weather.
Fulton residents are asked to keep their thermostats decreased until the end of this week. Once temperatures begin to warm up, costs of electric and natural gas will decrease.
Christmas Eve was when the City of Fulton initially asked citizens to conserve electric and natural gas.
According to the release, the electric market is experiencing a 2,000 percent cost increase per megawatt.
This release also states Panhandle Eastern Pipeline has requested all customers to reduce natural gas consumption whenever possible.
Panhandle Eastern Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline that supplies natural gas across the Midwest. It begins in the panhandle area of Oklahoma and runs to southern Michigan.
Panhandle began requesting customers to reduce consumption on Dec. 19.
Fulton had natural gas problems last year as a result of severe weather. According to previous Fulton Sun reporting, natural gas wells in Oklahoma and Texas froze and caused a decrease of natural gas availability.
City residents were also encouraged to reduce natural gas usage and decrease thermostat temperatures, as the cost of natural gas greatly increased.
According to previous reporting from KOMU, the City of Fulton paid over $3.4 million over five days as a result of natural gas wells freezing.
Fulton later received a loan for $3.3 million "to ease expenses related to February's record natural gas prices during an extraordinary cold spell," previous Fulton Sun reporting states. Fulton was the first city to receive a loan through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Division of Energy, which established the loan program.
The severe cold impacted other towns across Callaway County. In Mokane, water stopped flowing out of the town's water tower, according to the City of Mokane's Facebook. This began on Dec. 23, with water flowing again on Dec. 24.
Mokane is currently under a boil order. The earliest the advisory could be lifted is today, as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources must test the water.
Mayor Chad Booher posted on the city's Facebook page thanking everyone who assisted in the situtation.
Gary Jungermann, Presiding Commissioner for Callaway County, told Booher the county could help make water available for those in need, according to Mokane's Facebook page. Ron Fischer, manager of Callaway Two Water District, helped diagnose the problem.