Settlement approved over Peoples Natural Gas incident affecting hundreds in Indiana County – WPXI

INDIANA COUNTY, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has approved a settlement related to the Peoples Natural Gas overpressure incident in Robinson, Indiana County.

On April 29, 2020, more than 200 households were affected by what a spokesman called a “surge” in the gas pipeline. In total, the gas was turned off in 220 houses.

Channel 11 spoke with residents who said their furnaces exploded and then caught fire.

Peoples Natural Gas replaced 11 furnaces, 70 water heaters, a range, 194 furnace valves and 135 water tank valves as a result of the incident. Additionally, approximately 4,552 feet of steel pipe and 133 utility lines were replaced, according to the PUC.

>> Gas supply to over 200 households shut off; Service is expected to be restored on Thursday

The settlement includes a civil penalty of $250,000 and resolves deficiencies identified by the PUC’s independent Bureau of Investigation & Enforcement. These include technicians’ failure to follow company procedures, inadequately detailed training materials provided by Peoples Natural Gas, and possible design defects at the regulating station.

Under the settlement, Peoples Natural Gas will not seek to recover the $250,000 civil penalty in any future tariff case, PUC said. Just over $305,000 in costs to replace damaged personal property also will not be reimbursed in future rate cases.

The settlement requires the company to review all regulatory stations within its distribution system, prioritize improvement projects based on a risk model, and implement process and training improvements to prevent future incidents.

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