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June 21, 2008

Gas company changes hours

Cullman-Jefferson Counties Gas District customers will no longer be able to pay their bills at the office on Alabama Highway 31 on Fridays — at least for a while.

Starting this week, the company is going to a four-day work week in an effort to reduce its fuel costs, according to Mark Bussman, the chief executive officer of CJCGD.

“For a one-month period, we’re going to try to go to a Monday through Thursday schedule,” Bussman said.

However, Bussman said the CJCGD is willing to go back to working on Fridays if the new schedule causes problems.

“We haven’t dug our heels in the sand,” Bussman said. “If it gets to the point its unworkable, we’ll go back to the regular schedule.

Bussman said someone will be on call on Fridays to operate the CJCGD emergency phone line.

This effort will not only effect CJCGD offices in Cullman and Warrior, but also its construction crews.

“The vehicles we operate .. mostly are diesel. That cost is approaching $5 a gallon,” Bussman said. “The thought process is if our construction crews only have to mobilize four days a week there will be some time savings and cost savings on fuel.”

Bussman said after the one-month trial, he will evaluate how much money is saved, the hardships the schedule puts on customers and the benefits for CJCGD employees.

Although the employees may save gas by working four days a week instead of five, he added working 10-hour days could come at a cost for some workers.

“There will be some hardships from working a 10-hour day when we get into July and August,” Bussman said.

To make the new schedule work, Bussman said service area quadrants created in response to the rise in gas prices that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005 will again be put to use.

“Instead of sending someone to Hanceville, then turning around and sending them to Vinemont and Eva, we’ll gather up several calls in Vinemont and Eva and send one serviceman North and send a different one south,” Bussman said. “That way we can conserve as much frivolous driving as possible.”

Bussman said it was during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that CJCGD first considered going to a four-day work week.

Bussman said another savings for CJCGD will come from other energy sources. “Obviously we’ll be able to adjust thermostats on the Fridays we’re not here,” said Bussman, who serves as vice president of the Cullman City Board of Education.

Bussman said he has noticed a drop off in the number of walk-in customers who come into the Cullman CJCGD office.

“Instead of someone driving 10 miles to Cullman Jefferson Gas their ... putting a postage stamp on the bill and mailing it,” Bussman said.

Bussman said the CJCGD’s 33 full-time employees serve about 14,000 customers.

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