A 76-year-old man won’t have to pay a $15,000 bill to get the gas connected to his new home.
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As reported in the Mercury last month, Wesley Crittle had built a new house behind his Thirroul antiques business – complete with gas hot water, heating and cooking.
But he and his three dogs had been living in a single room at the back of the business because of gas wholesaler Jemena's moves to charge Mr Crittle $15,000 to have the gas connected.
This was because Jemena wanted to lay in new pipe from across the road to service Mr Crittle’s house – despite the presence of a gas line running to his next-door neighbour’s house.
While a Jemena assessment found using the neighbour’s gas line wasn’t considered feasible, a company spokeswoman said last month that was under review.
“After reviewing the possibility of connecting Mr Crittle’s gas from the neighbouring property, we have found a way to achieve this, via a 30-metre mains extension to bring the gas to the front of Mr Crittle’s property,” a Jemena spokeswoman told the Mercury last week.
Mr Crittle was pleased that the connection would mean he could soon move into his house.
... we have agreed to provide the connection at no cost as a gesture of goodwill
- Jemena spokeswoman
“It’s made a huge difference,” Mr Crittle said.
“I built this house and I spent a lot of money building it. Now I’m just sitting here looking at it, crammed in this one little room with my three labradors.”
Even better is the fact it won’t cost Mr Crittle a cent to get connected.
Mr Crittle said Jemena contacted him to say they would cut the bill to $6000.
That was reduced even further to providing a free connection, because Mr Crittle had applied to be connected to the gas in February but heard nothing for months.
“In this instance we acknowledge Mr Crittle has experienced unacceptable delays in connecting gas to his property,” the Jemena spokesman said.
“Due to the length of the delay, and the level of inconvenience caused, we have agreed to provide the connection at no cost as a gesture of goodwill.”
The spokeswoman said Jemena expected it would take between four to six weeks to connect Mr Crittle’s house, because the property's location means licences from various authorities were required.