SEGUIN, Texas – The cities of Seguin and McQueeney are experiencing a natural gas outage after what city leaders described as a “system crash” with a main line that provides gas service.
Centerpoint Energy said the outage could last for several days.
A release from Centerpoint Energy stated that the outage, which is affecting more than 4,300 customers, is a result of damage to another company’s pipeline that serves the towns.
“Safety will be our number-one priority as we work to restore natural gas service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible,” said Tal Centers, Vice President, Texas Gas at CenterPoint Energy. “As part of our safety procedures, we will start the process of turning off each customer’s natural gas meter. Repairs may take several days. Once the pipeline company finalizes its repairs, our crews will need to manually turn each meter back on.
“CenterPoint Energy is focused on providing service to critical facilities, such as hospitals, and will attempt to secure backup gas service to such critical facilities while the pipeline supplying natural gas to the towns is being repaired,” Centers added.
“More than 200 employees and contractors have been called to help with the restoration process,” Centers said. “At this time, no action is required on the part of the customer.”
Customers are urged not to turn any valves or tamper with the natural gas meter.
If there is a smell of natural gas, customers should leave the area immediately on foot and call CenterPoint Energy at 866-275-5252 and 911 to report and should not turn on or operate anything that might cause a spark including light switches or cellphones, CenterPoint Energy officials said.
The City of Seguin said a shelter will open up starting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hillcrest Church in Seguin, located at 1440 Eastwood.
City officials released the following statement Tuesday evening:
“The entire City of Seguin is currently without gas service to homes and businesses, so we know the million dollar question is ‘When will the gas be turned back on?’
“More than 200 technicians are in Seguin working to restore service, but it will take time. All meters in the City will have to be manually turned off before the system can be reactivated and eventually restored.
“CenterPoint plans on working throughout the night tonight with hopes that all meters will be turned off by noon tomorrow. ** Techs are already going house to house this evening, so please keep your porch lights on and bring pets inside that are near the area of your gas meter. Customers will need to be home as the technicians will have to turn each natural gas meter back on. The technicians will make 3 visits and will leave a door hanger for customers to call for scheduling a time. **
“Once the main transmission line is repaired, the system can then be recharged. At that point, CenterPoint will commence the individual manual turn-ons of each meter within the system.
“CenterPoint estimates the entire service territory will be restored in approximately 4-5 days. Some customers may have service restored sooner than others. The earliest CenterPoint Energy estimates that any customers will have gas turned back on is sometime Wednesday afternoon.”
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The City of Seguin is aware that Centerpoint Energy has experienced a major outage/system crash with a...
Posted by City of Seguin - Government on Tuesday, March 8, 2022