Update: We Energies says natural gas has returned to levels at which customers can resume normal use

We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said in a statement that because customers complied with its request Friday night to lower the thermostat to 62 or lower, no customer has lost the ability to heat their home.

“We really appreciate our customers’ understanding throughout this event,” said Conway.

Amid sub-zero temperatures, more than 1 million We Energies customers across Wisconsin are told to conserve natural gas due to pipeline failure

We Energies asked its customers to immediately turn their thermostats to 62 degrees or less on Friday evening to prevent widespread service outages.

Guardian Pipeline notified customers on Friday that it had restricted the flow of northbound gas on an interstate pipeline due to unplanned maintenance at a compressor station in Illinois.

We Energies spokesman Brendan Conway said Guardian had cut gas supplies at the utilities by 30%.

Conway said the utilities are siphoning off LNG and propane storage facilities and have cut gas supplies to business customers whose contracts allow outages. But due to extreme cold gripping much of the country, the facility is unable to get gas from other pipeline suppliers.

A spokesperson for the pipeline company said one of the two faulty valves was repaired Friday night and crews are working on the second to restore capacity “in due course”.

We Energies said it would reassess the situation and update customers on Saturday. No update provided as of 6am on Saturday.

In addition to turning off thermostats, the company asked residents to avoid using secondary gas heaters, ovens, stoves, and clothes dryers.

The National Weather Service was forecasting low temperatures of zero to -14 below across Wisconsin Friday night and highs mostly in the single digits, with most of the state under a wind chill warning.