GAS IN MERNDA

In 2006 the laying of the Gas Mains was completed by the contractor, and residents were able to connect before the onset of winter. The shaded area shows where the gas mains have been laid. You need to apply to have gas connected, it does not happen automatically. If you have had a gas pipe connected to your house, you can now connect to Natural Gas. You need to contact a Gas Plumber and organise with them to connect your house to the new pipe. As most of the appliances have been running on LPG, you will need to have them converted to run on Natural Gas, or if the unit is too old, you may need to purchase a new one. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT A PLUMBER IS REQUIRED TO CONNECT YOUR HOUSE TO THE METER. If your house does not have a gas, then you will need to make an application to be connected. You need to contact one of the gas companies listed below to do this. You will find that each company has slightly different rates and charges and you may need to ring around for your best deal. ORIGIN ENERGY 1800 650 835 TRUenergy 1800 818 378 AGL 1800 680 430 Energy Australia 1800 301 304 (only accept connections for both Gas and Electricity)

HISTORY OF GAS CONNECTION A while ago the high-pressure gas pipeline connecting the gas fields with Wodonga was put in place a short distance north of Mernda Township. The residents were told that because of the high pressure in the pipeline, then it could not be joined into to provide gas to the township. Recently a junction called a Citygate was installed in the high-pressure pipeline and the gas lines were laid to connect the township of Whittlesea. On seeing this happen a couple of Mernda residents started trying to find out about this issue and were given the run around to say the least. These people then started to try to get community involvement and a meeting was called for and held at the local primary school. A committee was formed; a committee meeting was organized with some invited quests to help. Those invited guests who were able to attend were, Danielle Green MP, Allan Cann local Whittlesea Councilor, and Rex Griffin ex local Councilor, and Leanne Fry PA to Fran Bailey, MP. As we were to have a State Election in a few weeks it was decided to have a questionnaire at the Primary School on Election Day to survey residents about their gas requirements. We gained an overwhelming result in that very nearly everyone spoken to would convert to natural gas if it were available. Those at the meeting decided to hold another public meeting and invite Mr Andrew McKenzie, the Marketing Manager for Origin Energy, to come and address the meeting and answer questions from residents. Mr McKenzie was able to inform the meeting that a pipeline was to be extended to South Morang from the Citygate, due to increase demand for Gas in South Morang but no chance of increase from existing pipelines. He said that as the gas is going past we are fortunate that we could be connected shortly depending on whether there would be sufficient demand in the township. At our next committee meeting it was decided to complete the residents survey as we had covered about 60 percent on polling day. Volunteers helped to complete this task and we now had a complete survey from which we would be able to provide Envestra with details of resident’s intentions to convert. The survey was sent to Mr McKenzie to go along with the survey from Whittlesea Council, to further strengthen the case. The Gas pipeline construction from the Citygate, to South Morang started in March 2005 and has progressed to Masons Lane. It was due to be completed by end of May 2005 and was on target, and we were told that it was anticipated that the first connections in Mernda could be by August 2005. Winter came and the pipeline was still under construction due to the rock in the area. Envestra had now put the project on hold while it reevaluates the whole plan. In late September after hearing nothing since May, further attempts to contact Envestra were made. No answers to my email was forthcoming after two week, so a phone call was made and again after waiting for a few days a reply came that Envestra was looking at the viability again and things were not good. Mr McKenzie said that with all the new development going on he would try and have some to the funds from these diverted to the township cause. On Monday 17th October the best call ever came in with Mr McKenzie telling me that Envestra had given its approval for connection to go ahead. He has said that most of the township will be able to be connected, but some of the fringe areas may not be connected. These areas will be looked at case by case in due course. A Public Meeting was called for November 2005, with the purpose of passing on information about what will happen from here. All in attendance were given the latest information. We were advised that construction would start in early 2006 with a completion date of about May 2006, providing there were no major delays. The construction started in February 2006 and was finally finished in June 2006 with several delays happening because of the rock in streets. The first live connection was made in May at the end of Gael Court. Many residents throughout the township had not contacted any Gas companies to get their houses connected, but it seems that as the pipes were being laid in the streets many more made application. At the end of July 2006, about 48 percent of those people who had asked for connection had actually been hooked up to the Natural Gas network. In August a further notice is to be sent out to those who have not connected asking that they do so soon. It is a great feeling to have taken on this task and now we have Natural Gas in the Township. Next we want the sewerage to be put on and we will start to ask council for other issues to be looked at around town.