ENERGY infrastructure company Jemena says it will be knocking on doors in Kelso today (Tuesday) to reconnect customers to the gas network after the gas main in the area was struck yesterday (Monday).
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Almost 1000 homes in Kelso were left without gas after the incident yesterday morning, but Jemena says the problem has been fixed and now it's just a matter of getting around all the homes affected.
Jemena spokesman Michael Pintabona said the problem was caused when a third party contractor working on electricity assets in the area struck the gas main at about 10am yesterday.
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Because it was the gas main, through which all the gas for a large area passes, it had to be clamped down and gas had to be turned off for 980 customers, Mr Pintabona said.
"We have a small Bathurst crew of 12 people that attended quite quickly and we had to mobilise additional people from Sydney and regional NSW," he said.
He said the crew ensured there was nothing in the gas pipeline and conducted the physical repair work on the 110mm lead pipe.
He acknowledged that winter was a bad time for the incident to have happened.
Mr Pintabona said gas was reintroduced into the pipeline last night and crew members now need to go to each affected household and work with customers to reconnect gas to the house, including testing the pressure.
He said crew members concentrated on reconnecting vulnerable customers, including those on life support, last night and will be working through the other households today.
"This morning, there will be 50 people on site in Kelso relighting [the gas at homes] through the day," he said.
"The message to customers is that we will knock on your door.
"If we miss you, we will leave behind a card with information about who you need to contact.
"Call us and we will send a crew around to connect."
Mr Pintabona said Jemena had done its best to get to vulnerable customers, but vulnerable customers who may have been missed should call 131 909.
He acknowledged that the gas outage would have been frustrating and said Jemena was very appreciative for the patience from those affected.
"We have bolstered our resources from 12 to 50 and hopefully we will see people today," he said.
