KINGSTON estate residents who shivered through two gas outages last month will be relieved to know that new pipelines are being installed by their gas supplier, AusNet.
The outages, which left dozens of households without heating or hot water on two bitterly cold nights, should now be a thing of the past with AusNet Services increasing gas capacity to Ocean Grove with the construction of an alternative gas supply into the Kingston Ocean Grove Estate near Evergreen Circuit.
AusNet Services’ principal gas planning engineer Mark Baker said that gas usage recently hit record levels due to significant population growth combined with record cold days.
“Strong population growth in the area coupled with extreme cold weather stressed the capacity of our network, despite our efforts to prevent supply issues by increasing gas pressures to Ocean Grove,” he said.
“We are expecting sustained growth in this area over a number of years, and usage is being carefully monitored to ensure we continue to meet the needs of the Ocean Grove community,” he said.
Mr Baker noted the support of the City of Greater Geelong and the developers of the Kingston Ocean Grove estate to allow the project to proceed quickly.
“Other local bodies shared our desire to see the needs of the local community met, and we appreciate their support in facilitating a quick response,” he said.
