Seguin, McQueeney experiencing natural gas service outage that could take days to repair

The cities of Seguin and McQueeney are experiencing a natural gas outage after what city leaders described as a “system crash” with a main line that provides gas service.

Centerpoint Energy said the outage could last for several days.

A Facebook post on the City of Seguin page included a release from Centerpoint Energy stating that the outage, which is affecting more than 4,300 customers, is a result of damage to another company’s pipeline that serves the towns.

“Safety will be our number-one priority as we work to restore natural gas service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible,” said Tal Centers, Vice President, Texas Gas at CenterPoint Energy. “As part of our safety procedures, we will start the process of turning off each customer’s natural gas meter. Repairs may take several days. Once the pipeline company finalizes its repairs, our crews will need to manually turn each meter back on.

“CenterPoint Energy is focused on providing service to critical facilities, such as hospitals, and will attempt to secure backup gas service to such critical facilities while the pipeline supplying natural gas to the towns is being repaired,” Centers added.

“More than 200 employees and contractors have been called to help with the restoration process,” Centers said. “At this time, no action is required on the part of the customer.”

Customers are urged not to turn any valves or tamper with the natural gas meter.

If there is a smell of natural gas, customers should leave the area immediately on foot and call CenterPoint Energy at 866-275-5252 and 911 to report and should not turn on or operate anything that might cause a spark including light switches or cellphones, CenterPoint Energy officials said.