Gas Pipeline Rupture – Advice To Contact Customers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

25 February 2002

Gas Pipeline Rupture – Advice To Contact Energy Customers

Contact Energy Ltd this evening urged all its lower North Island and Hawke’s Bay gas customers to minimise their use of natural gas immediately.

“We are advised by the network suppliers, Natural Gas Corporation, that a major gas pipeline rupture near Himatangi has completely cut the supply of gas to the lower North Island and Hawke’s Bay,” the chief executive of Contact Energy, Mr Steve Barrett, said.

Affected urban centres include Wellington, including the Hutt Valley and Porirua, Palmerston North, Levin, Hastings, Napier, Dannevirke, Foxton, and the Kapiti Coast.

“We are advised that repairs may not be completed and supply restored to normal before Wednesday afternoon.

“Our priority at this point is to contact all our major customers in the affected areas one by one to ask them to stop using gas immediately.

“Under contingency plans in their supply contracts, gas customers are assigned priority ratings for situations such as this,” Mr Barrett said.

Hospitals, emergency services, and domestic users will not be subject to this demand at this time.

“However, domestic and other small gas users are strenuously urged to limit and, if possible, stop their use of gas until the pipeline is repaired.”

Mr Barrett stressed that gas customers in the rest of the North Island are unaffected by the rupture of NGC’s pipeline, and that none of Contact’s electricity generating stations are affected.

For further information:

Pattrick Smellie
Media Relations
Contact Energy
(04) 4959753
(021) 588203

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