By Sasha Weintraub

On March 18, energy companies celebrated Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day by encouraging the communities we serve to recognize the utility workers who keep natural gas service safely and reliably flowing to millions of homes and businesses across the nation.

As president of Piedmont Natural Gas, I witness the professionalism, dedication and commitment of our hundreds of technicians, construction crews, operations teams and other natural gas workers every day.

The pride these individuals take in doing their jobs — and, more importantly, doing them safely — so our customers can enjoy the benefits of natural gas service truly is inspiring to me.

At Piedmont, our employees are willing to go above and beyond to provide quality service to our customers, even if it means dropping everything at a moment’s notice to respond to an outage or emergency. These workers have missed holidays, family events and major milestones to keep businesses running and homes heated. Piedmont crews have even traveled across multiple states to help fellow natural gas workers from other utility companies during crisis situations.

This level of devotion to quality customer service is just one of the many reasons Piedmont Natural Gas was named No. 1 in customer satisfaction with residential natural gas service in the South among large utilities for the second year in a row, according to the J.D. Power 2023 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day is celebrated each year on March 18 in honor of a 1937 incident in New London, Texas, that led to an increased emphasis on safety, including the widespread use of mercaptan, an additive that gives natural gas its noticeable “rotten egg” smell. Safety is the top priority for Piedmont and for all our employees. We want our workers to come home to their families safe and sound each day, and the safety of our customers and our communities is top of mind in everything we do.

I’m extremely proud of the efforts of hundreds of Piedmont Natural Gas utility workers in bringing safe, reliable natural gas to our customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Please join me in showing appreciation for these hardworking men and women in honor of Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day.

Sasha Weintraub is senior vice president and president of Piedmont Natural Gas.