About Natural Gas
Natural gas, America’s most popular home heating energy, is increasingly popular for use by homeowners, schools, businesses, factories and power generation facilities because it is efficient, clean reliable and a relative bargain compared to alternative energy sources.
As with any energy source, certain levels of safety should always be practiced!
Do your part to familiarize yourself and your family with these natural gas safety tips and continue to enjoy the value, comfort and convenience of America’s cleanest, most efficient energy source!
Call Before You Dig!
In portions of Middle Georgia, Jointly Owned Natural Gas provides natural gas to approximately 5000 consumers through a network of underground distribution lines. Main gas lines, typically 2 to 4 inch in diameter, branch into individual service lines which are typically ½ to 1 inch in diameter and buried 12 to 18 inches below ground.
To protect you and others in our communities, federal and state government, along with your utility provider have made safety a high priority. Any time you excavate or move earth in any way, you are required to “Call Before You Dig” by simply dialing 811 at least 48 hours before beginning any and all digging. When you call Georgia 811, they will contact all utility owners who will locate and mark all buried utilities on or near your property, so you can safely dig and prevent a potentially hazardous situation. Failure to use the 811 system is a known contributor to pipeline incidents or accidents. Calling before you dig can prevent a costly or even deadly mistake. Visit Georgia811.com for more information.
Call 811If You Smell Gas
If you smell gas, or just think you might smell gas, leave the area immediately and call your gas provider from a nearby location, a safe distance from where the smell was detected. Never turn on or off switches or use a portable light or phone in the presence of a possible gas smell, because an electric spark could ignite gas and cause an explosion.
Natural gas is a colorless, odorless gas; however, a chemical that smells similar to rotten eggs is added to help detect a possible leak. Some of the indications of a gas leak include hearing a hissing sound, seeing bubbles in water or blowing sounds from a line or an appliance, dead or discolored vegetation in an otherwise green area, or dirt or dust blowing from the ground or the smell of rotten eggs.
Call 478.654.6059 any time to report a leak or outage.
Excess Flow Valves
Excess Flow Valves (EFV’s) are mechanical shut-off devices that can be installed in the natural gas pipe running to the gas meter at your property (the service line). An EFV is designed to shut off most of the flow of natural gas automatically if the service line breaks, for example, by an excavation accident. Stopping the flow of gas from a broken service line significantly reduces the risk of natural gas fire, explosion, personal injury and/or property damage.
You may request that Jointly Owned Natural Gas install an excess flow valve on the service line to your property.
If you notify us that you want an EFV installed we will contact you to discuss your specific circumstances and the cost of installation and maintenance. There are certain conditions when EFV’s cannot be installed on some service lines due to the high gas flow, low pressure or other factors. If you request an EFV we will inform you if your service line can accommodate an EFV.
If an EFV can be installed on your service line and you choose to have one installed, we will set up a mutually agreeable date when we will install and EFV on your service line.
You will be billed the cost to install the EFV, depending on the specific circumstances associated with your service line and property, the cost would be between $1,000 and $1,500.
If, in the future, it becomes necessary to perform maintenance on or replace the EFV on your service line, you will be billed $750 per repair or replacement.
You are not required to have an EFV installed; this notification is intended only to make customers of Jointly Owned Natural Gas aware of their availability.