By Tuesday afternoon, Atmos Energy restored natural gas service to just over 100 customers out of the 750 who lost service in Durango.
And by Tuesday evening, the Durango City Council was expressing concerns about Atmos’ poor customer service.
The outage, which began about 3:30 p.m. Monday, was caused when air apparently entered a pipeline during ongoing maintenance work, Atmos spokesman Darwin Winfield said in a news release.
Winfield said the outage boundaries stretch from 12th Street on the north to First Street on the south, and from East Ninth Avenue on the east to East Second Avenue on the west.
“Numbers will be picking up as people come home from work,” Winfield said Tuesday evening. “We’ll have 12 teams of employees knocking on doors, and they’ll do so throughout the night.”
He said crews will knock as long as they see a light or some indication the resident is home. Otherwise, Atmos will leave a hanger on the door asking occupants to contact the company and schedule a time to restore gas service.
At its meeting Tuesday evening, the City Council asked the city manager to schedule a meeting with Atmos officials and report the company to the Public Utilities Commission after the second major outage in a month.
“This stuff deserves to be reported to the PUC,” Councilor Dick White said.
The councilors were concerned that Atmos didn’t contact residents directly Monday about the outage, and they haven’t treated residents and businesses with greater respect.
They would like to see more proactive customer service and better coordination with the city when they are working in the city streets, White said.
Atmos Crews began turning off meters Monday night and resumed at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Winfield said. The meters must be shut off at each home for the air to be purged from the pipeline.
Atmos technicians were going door-to-door Tuesday to relight natural gas appliances for businesses and residential customers. Someone 18 years old or older must be at a residence when the gas is restored, according to the release.
On Sept. 27, a crew working on lines hit one, leaving more than 550 residences and businesses in the downtown area without gas. It took more than 48 hours to get service fully restored.
Anyone encountering problems with natural gas service should call Atmos Energy customer service center at (888) 286-6700.
If anyone smells gas, they should leave the area immediately and call 911 and the Atmos Energy emergency line at (866) 322-8667.