Fortis B-C is asking customers across the province to conserve natural gas after an explosion shut down an Enbridge pipeline northeast of Prince George. Fortis warns up to 700-thousand customers in northern B-C, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island could be hit with a “potential loss of service” because the twinned pipeline carries 85 per cent of the gas it feeds to homes and businesses. But it’s asking all of its customers in B-C to chip in by lowering their thermostats or shutting off their furnaces if they can and by reducing their use of hot water if they have a natural gas hot water tank. There is no word on how long the request will be in effect — with Fortis saying only that it will provide more updates as soon as it’s in a position to offer something new.