1/27/14 Natural gas outage in Walnut Creek due to faulty meter
By Nick Sabo
January 27, 2014
379
A faulty meter has been attributed to loss of natural gas service to several Walnut Creek customers Jan. 6.
Jason Gilham, with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said Monday, Jan. 27, that a frozen meter was responsible for outages of natural gas service for 20 customers in Walnut Creek, including Walnut Creek Elementary.
Gilham said his office contacted the Northeast Ohio Natural Gas Corporation and was told the meter had failed and has since been replaced.
This was not a larger problem with infrastructure, Gilham said. The interruption in service was due to a meter lock-up (and) Northeast Ohio does not anticipate future problems.
The meter lock-up occurred the morning of Jan. 6, when overnight temperatures dipped below - 15 degrees.
PUCO was made aware of the outage in a Jan. 27 conference call with the Holmes County Commissioners and state representative Dave Hall. Commissioner Joe Miller, whose inn, Oak Ridge Inn, was one of the customers affected, asked if demand led to the service interruption. According to Miller, Walnut Creek Elementary, a light industrial plant and the Oak Ridge Inn had no gas service for several hours. Numerous residences had an inadequate amount of heat, Miller said.
Holmes County Emergency Management Agency director Gary Mellor said similar problems also occurred in Killbuck. Mellor noted that the decrease in natural gas hit around 7 a.m., just as a major natural gas user at the Killbuck industrial park was firing up.
The commissioners asked if natural gas can be subject to the same sort of interruptions as an electrical grid that gives out when peak demand is exceeded.
PUCO senior policy administrator Mike Fraizer, said there may be a correlation between demand for natural gas and potential loss of service. Fraizer said that when natural gas use goes beyond peak consumption, the gas companies will ask large users, such as industry, to curtail use.
We are seeing a huge tax on this system (with) this regional cold spell, Fraizer said. I think the system is plugging along the best it can. I know the curtailing has helped.
Fraizer said curtailing can involve shutting down plant operations entirely or switching to an alternative fuel, such as diesel.
Miller said his inn was without heat for about five hours, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 12 p.m..
Monday night is expected to see lows of - 6 degrees, and Tuesday, - 9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, Cleveland.
Calls for comment to Northeast Ohio Natural Gas Corporation were not returned, as of press time.
