Southern California Gas Co. again asked its customers to immediately cut gas use to avoid natural gas and electricity shortages, and the utility issued a systemwide curtailment watch for commercial and industrial customers.

The advisory, effective Jan. 23, seeks to reduce potential outages resulting from cold weather forecast in SoCalGas' service territory, despite currently meeting system demands, according to a Jan. 22 news release. The Sempra Energy utility warned of a potential supply shortfall and may release service curtailment notices to its noncore customers, which include electric generation plants.

The move is part of a program ordered by the California Public Utilities Commission to address reliability concerns due to the moratorium on operations at the utility's Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. SoCalGas issued its first advisory in December 2016.