Albany Gas Network Shut Down: Thousands Must Switch to LPG Bottles

ATCO Australia has made the decision to decommission the Albany gas network, citing the excessive cost to carry out repairs. It will mean 8,000 businesses and homes currently using liquefied petroleum gas from the network will be transitioned to bottled gas over the next three years, starting in the second half of this year. Les Palmer owns a steakhouse in Albany, about 420 kilometres south of Perth, and uses gas to power various appliances in his kitchen. "My deep fryers, stove tops, ovens, and predominantly my char grills, which is my bread and butter," he said. He has begun researching alternatives for when connecting to the network is no longer an option. "I'd love to stay on gas if I can. I mean, flames work beautifully," Mr Palmer said. "I've got a few of the gas providers like Kleenheat and Origin coming down to my restaurant just to have a look, to see if there is space — that's the biggest problem we're worried about. Mr Palmer said the news took him by surprise. "This is not just a small little thing, this is significant for business and for residents as well," he said. "Changing everything to electric would be astronomical [in cost]." Repairs too costly The network was privatised in 2000 and bought by ATCO in 2012. The company's executive general manager for gas operations, Russell Godsall, said the cost of upgrades to the aging 160-kilometre network would have been passed on to customers. "It's about 90 per cent of the network that would have to be replaced," he said. "For the cost involved, it would be in excess of $80 million. "The challenge with the Albany network is there is about 8,000 customers, so spending that sort of money would really increase the bills for Albany customers by a substantial amount." City of Albany Mayor Greg Stocks said more notice should have been given to residents. "They would have known in 2011 the age of that infrastructure and the fact that they would need to reinvest and the fact they haven't bothered to contact the city is very, very disappointing when there are many unanswered questions," he said. Unclear who will pay for transition Mr Stocks said there were still questions about how the cost for the transition would be covered. "I'll be going to the [Energy] Minister [Amber-Jade] Sanderson, as quickly as I possibly can, to talk about the transition, because I've already accepted that ATCO as a private company are not going to make that investment," he said. "Who is going to pay for the 8,000 residents of Albany, the 8,000 customers who are on that network?" Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation Amber-Jade Sanderson said the government would support customers during the transition. "I am disappointed ATCO is decommissioning the network, affecting people who have been their customers for 13 years," she said. "We will work with ATCO and others to ensure that households and businesses affected by this decision have access to reliable and sustainable energy supplies." ATCO, government to work on plan Premier Roger Cook has compared the situation to what happened in Esperance, where 400 homes and businesses were affected. "It's not surprising: you saw a similar outcome in Esperance over the last few years, where you see the reticulated system or network ultimately signalled for shutdown because the asset gets to the point where it no longer becomes feasible to invest in it," he said. "I understand that this will be a concern for people in that community, they'll have questions, but I just want to reassure people there's no immediate action you need to take, there will be no immediate impact." Mr Godsall said ATCO would be working with the LPG industry and state government on a more detailed plan for the decommissioning. "In Esperance, there was a lot of electrification, but there were also customers that went to LPG because they were on natural gas, they had to convert their appliances, I believe there may have been some level of pipe work alteration as well, and then they put the bottles on," he said. "Hopefully, here in Albany that will be less of a change because it is literally just on the outside."