For Immediate Release
Contact
Jarrett Carter
jarrett.carter@bge.com
BALTIMORE (Feb. 22, 2018) – BGE has restored natural gas service to all of the mains damaged by a water main break on Feb. 15. Nearly 1,250 feet of main has been replaced and nearly all of the approximately 400 customers whose gas service was interrupted by this event have had service restored. Those who have not had service restored are reminded to contact BGE to schedule restoration work, provided their homes and businesses are safe for the reintroduction of natural gas.
More than 250 BGE technicians and contractors responding with more than 200 pieces of service equipment worked around-the-clock to purge nearly 2,000 gallons of water and debris out of the mains. Crews coordinated with all impacted residential and business customers individually to turn off gas meters to drain, clean, and repair lines. Once safe to restore gas service, BGE returned to each property to reconnect service lines to the repaired or replaced mains.
"We cannot say enough about the patience and graciousness of our neighbors in Laurel, said A. Christopher Burton, vice president of gas distribution for BGE. "We want to thank all of our customers for their understanding, and officials from the City of Laurel and from the Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission (WSSC) for working with us to restore natural gas service to our customers as safely and as quickly as possible."
Customers who are still without gas service and who will not be home for the remainder of BGE's door-to-door canvassing activities should call 1.800.685.0123 to schedule a technician to come to their homes for inspection of mains and relighting of appliances. In cases where it is not safe to restore gas service due to issues with customer equipment, customers are being advised to contact a plumber make the repairs necessary to restore gas service.
The safety of our customers, employees and contractors remains the top priority. As always, customers who smell natural gas or detect escaping gas are asked to get to a safe location and contact BGE immediately at 1.800.685.0123.
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BGE, founded in 1816 as the nation's first gas utility and headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility. The company's approximately 3,200 employees are committed to safe and reliable power delivery to more than 1.25 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland, as well as enhanced energy management, conservation, environmental stewardship and community assistance. J.D. Power's 2017 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) ranked BGE highest in customer satisfaction with business electric service in the east among large utilities. The company also has an estimated annual economic impact of $5 billion of output in its service area, supporting more than 9,500 local jobs and producing $923 million in labor income. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.