AUSTIN, Texas – Late December’s polar vortex brought freezing temperatures to Texas. It also left some Atmos Energy customers without heat. 

Atmos Energy said in a statement to Spectrum News that it plans to provide reliable services all year, but “fell short for some of our customers who experienced interruptions in their natural gas service. That is not acceptable." 

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, called an investigation into Atmos Energy last week. A spokesperson said in an email to Spectrum News that “the situation was caused by pipeline capacity constraints for parts of Atmos’ system due to extremely high demand. This led to low gas pressure in localized areas." 

Following the RRC’s request for information, Gov. Greg Abbott separately called on the RRC and the attorney general’s office to investigate Atmos Energy. He called the situation a “failure” and “unacceptable.” 

Lawmakers ordered the Railroad Commission of Texas to weatherize its equipment after a deadly winter storm in 2021 killed hundreds of Texans.

Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, said the state needs to invest in new natural gas plants to meet these demands and prevent future outages.

“We've got a real problem delivering the basic commodities that we need to our citizens. The state keeps growing and our infrastructure is falling behind,” Hirs said.

Hirs doesn’t foresee anything substantial coming out of these investigations.

Beth Garza with the R Street Institute said the state could incentivize or invest in building more plants during the next legislative session.

“There's not enough natural gas infrastructure to supply the needs of its biggest state as we have become,” she said.  

Both experts said we won’t know the true reason for last week’s service disruption until the investigation is complete. The Railroad Commission says Atmos Energy has until Jan. 27 to provide details.

Michael Webber of the Webber Energy Group said it’s good news that the power grid performed well overall in December. But he said when gas freezes like it did in February 2021, it affects the ability for people to get access to heat, and for power plants to get the fuel they need to generate the state’s electricity. 

“[In 2021], the Legislature gave a lot of scrutiny, attention and pressure on the power side of the question — the electricity with the electrons — but basically ignored the gas system. It’s time for the gas system to get some legislative scrutiny; some pressure to weatherize and winterize equipment to make it more reliable. So I think that would be useful," Webber said. "I think Texas’ energy mix probably needs to diversify a little bit more, probably away from gas. We like gas because we make it in Texas, and it’s cleaner and cheaper than coal. But it can also freeze up and has volatile prices here and there. So it might make sense for us to use less of it, so we have more available when times are scarce, so to speak, and we really need it. For the most part, I think the challenge is just that we gave our attention over the last year and a half to the power sector and not the gas sector.” 

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said he would not leave the Capitol at the end of this year's legislative session in May until lawmakers prioritize and incentivize natural gas production in Texas. We will see how this all unfolds when lawmakers convene on Jan. 10.

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