UPDATE: "Most customers" can be expected to be connected by COB today

Port Douglas Gas Outage

Bryan Littlely

Journalist

Email
Last updated:
Businesses will be the first to have their gas service reconnected after an outage left 400 customers without gas from Sunday morning. Picture: Byron Filmer

UPDATE: Origin gas customers in Port Douglas are reporting a return of services with technicians working through Port Gardens this morning to turn on gas meters and get the more than 400 impacted properties back online.

We have been advised Sheraton is back online after losing services from Sunday and updates are rolling in on how Port Douglas gas supply is being returned to normal.

Origin Spokesman:

“We have a number of teams on the ground working to reconnect customers and subject to being able to gain access, we aim to have most of our customers reconnected by close of business today. We will continue to communicate directly with our customers to keep them updated and again wish to thank them for their patience.”

**************

Port Douglas businesses say they need to be compensated for lost business as a gas outage enters a third day.

Around 400 business and residential customers in Port Douglas were left without gas on Sunday, with dozens still cut off this morning.

An Origin Energy spokesman has confirmed the number of people impacted by the regulator failure on Sunday, but said he was not sure just how many customers were still impacted.

He had asked work crews dealing with the issue to provide an update but it was his “understanding that they are working hard from late yesterday to get customers back on line”.

The spokesman said safety concerns around returning gas to lines were a consideration in the process, adding that lines had to be purged first before it was safe to use the restored gas for operations.

He added business operations would be first to be returned to service and technicians would be looking to access those properties to do the pre-restoration work required.

“I don’t know at this point in time how many customers remain without gas,’’ the spokesman said early this morning, Tuesday, November 26.

“I expect that there will be avenue to apply for compensation but I could not comment on that process at this time.’’

Rattle N Hum publican Danny Gray said losses to the business were significant as the gas outage, which started on Sunday morning, continued into Tuesday.

He said while business were almost certain to call for compensation, it would likely be a pointless bid.

The Little Red Kitchen and Catering Co added its comments to Newsport's Facebook site late on Monday, saying: "Try being a business in town that’s heard nothing. We all deserve better.''

Resident Yumi Harris also had called the Origin emergency number seeking answers.

"He says will finish fixing problem by late tonight or tomorrow. No gas for cooking and hot shower tonight again,'' Yumi added.

"And there is no formal comment from Origin itself on their web site. He says they can’t do update at the moment. Will do it shortly.

"No gas without any warning and any information whatsoever.''

The spokesman gave this response to Newsport at noon on Monday:

“The reticulated gas network that serves Port Douglas shut down early on Sunday morning following a regulator failure. Origin’s LPG team responded once alerted, shut down the network and repaired the faulty regulator and are now working to safely reconnect customers. We wish to thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience.”

He described as "disappointing" hearing that Origin customers felt they had not been able to get information about the disruption to their services.

 

Support public interest journalism

Help us to continue covering local stories that matter. Please consider supporting below.

Got a news tip?

Send a news tip or submit a letter to the Newsport Editor here.

Comments

Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport, its staff or affiliates. Reader comments are moderated before publication to promote valuable, civil, and healthy community debate. Visit our comment guidelines if your comment has not been approved for publication.