SPOKANE, Wash. – Twenty-two crews from NorthWestern Energy are assisting Avista in the largest natural gas outage in the utility company’s history.
NorthWestern Energy is based in Thompson Falls, Montana and their natural gas crews immediately jumped to action to help assist.
“Our crews said ‘yes’ immediately when we asked for volunteers and I had calls before that from our folks asking how they could help Avista,” NorthWestern Energy Vice President Distribution Jason Merkel said. “The scope of this outage is enormous.”
For the last two days, residents of the Palouse have been without heat, hot water and other services.
Avista requested resources from area energy companies to help restore natural gas services. This process takes time and involves many steps over multiple days.
Each customer’s natural gas meter must be shut off, then the distribution system will be repressurized. After that, crews will go door-to-door to turn meters back on and relight natural gas appliances. An adult must be present to let the service person inside for relighting. Customers are asked not to leave doors to homes unlocked, and all field personnel conducting relights will have identification.
If you are away when a service person comes by, they will leave you a card urging you to contact Avista to ensure someone can come by.
“This industry works 365 days, around the clock to provide safe, reliable energy service to customers. We support each other in our common mission,” said Merkel.
For information on when you can expect crews in your area, visit the Avista website for a map that provides a time window when crews will be in each affected area.
