Ironically, one week after Thanksgiving Alagasco has given residents of Demopolis something else to be thankful for. A company that has proven they care about their customers and the community.

Thursday more than 1,000 Alagasco customers were left without service during one of the coldest periods this fall. A valve in the natural gas lines in Demopolis malfunctioned, stopping all gas output to more than 1,000 Alagasco customers. Many feared they would be without service for days. This was a very conceivable idea. Many were frustrated at the time, but pleasantly surprised by Friday morning. In the end, a cold shower Thursday morning turned out to be the worst to come of a problem that could have had severe consequences.

With the volume of customers without service and the cold temperatures things did not look good. But Alagasco rose to the challenge working throughout the night to return their customers to the comfort level they have grown accustomed to. All over town trucks could be seen traveling from home to home, from business to business putting aside sleep to get the job done. Alagasco showed their commitment to the customers by bringing in trucks from Tuscaloosa, Anniston, Opelika, Selma, Birmingham and other areas to umbrella out and cover the city. They worked throughout the night while the rest of us were nestled in our warm beds.

The trucks formed a Christmas parade of their own and by 7 p.m. Thursday had power restored. By 10 a.m. Friday, only about 200 customers were without service. Conditions were not especially favorable as temperatures dove into the 30’s. Still, they plugged along.

The speed with which they were able to restore service is incredible considering they had to manually reactivate gas to every customer in the city one at a time. Imagine making almost 1,000 service calls in one night for your job. It doesn’t sound very easy to do in one night even with an army of people helping. It would have been easy for them to go back to their warm homes and take their time. Instead, they went head and shoulders above their duties.

So hats off to the hard working people of Alagasco. In a time of doubt they stepped up to the plate and delivered. Demopolis and its citizens were no doubt full of gratitude when they stepped into a warm shower to head to work and school.