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Black Hills Energy continues to restore natural gas service to Dubuque customers

Oct. 12, 2021

⚠️ 9:00 A.M. Nearly all of the approximately 133 homes and businesses that lost service in Dubuque due a vehicle hitting a Black Hills Energy meter set Monday morning have been restored, with less than 15 customers remaining. 

All affected customers have been contacted.  Any customer who has not had gas restored should call Black Hills Energy at 888-890-5554 to schedule service to be restored. It is extremely important that customers do not attempt this themselves.

⚠️ 8:30 A.M. Service restoration efforts have resumed for customers in Dubuque. Technicians are working safely and efficiently to complete customer relights as soon as possible. As part of the process, technicians will turn on meters, perform safety inspections and relight pilot lights. If customers are not home when technicians arrive, a door hanger will be left and customers will need to call 888-890-5554 to reschedule a relight of service.

Oct. 11, 2021


⚠️ 7:00 P.M. Technicians have repressurized the system and initiated the first customer relights. We will continue relights until 9:00 p.m. this evening and again tomorrow morning, going door to door to turn on gas meters, perform safety inspections and relight pilot lights. Do not attempt to relight appliances on your own. Please be sure to have someone over 18 years of age present and all animals secure. Impacted customers have been notified. Continue to check social media for updates. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

⚠️ 4:30 P.M. Technicians have turned off the nearly 140 gas meters and are moving to step two of the multistep process: re-pressurizing the natural gas system. As part of the re-pressurization of the system, crews will plan to safely release natural gas into the air. Customers in the area may smell natural gas due to the controlled release.   After making repairs and re-pressurizing the system, customers will see Black Hills Energy employees at their door to turn on gas meters, perform a safety inspection and relight pilot lights. Do not attempt to relight appliances on your own. Please be sure to have someone over 18 years of age present and all animals secure. Visit social media for updates.Thank you for your patience and understanding.

⚠️ 3 P.M. Black Hills Energy techs are continuing to go door-to-door to turn off approximately 140 meters at this time. Once the safety of the system has been confirmed, we’ll repressurize the system and then begin to relight customers. We are actively monitoring our system and have not detected any leaks. If you do smell natural gas, leave the building or area immediately and tell others to leave too.

⚠️ 10 A.M. To safely facilitate repairs, techs will first go door-to-door turning off service to approximately 140 impacted natural gas meters. Our techs will then complete any needed repairs and restore system pressure. Immediately following repairs and restoration of system pressure, they'll begin relighting residential customers, and will spread across the city to resume service restoration efforts.

⚠️ 6 A.M. Our techs have determined that natural gas service has been temporarily interrupted for approximately 75 Black Hills Energy customers in downtown Dubuque this morning after a vehicle damaged a gas meter. We are working to restore service, and are actively monitoring our system. We will be reaching out to customers whose service has been impacted and will provide more information as it becomes available.

Black Hills Energy nearly complete with full restoration
 

DUBUQUE, IOWA -October 12, 2021 9:00 A.M. Black Hills Energy technicians worked efficiently over the past two days and have accomplished a nearly full restoration of natural gas service to customers in the City of Dubuque.

As of 9:00 a.m., nearly all of the approximately 133 homes and businesses that lost service due a vehicle hitting a Black Hills Energy meter set, resulting in the disruption of service to the area Monday morning have been restored, with less than 15 customers remaining. 

All affected customers have been contacted.  Any customer who has not had gas restored should call Black Hills Energy at 888-890-5554 to schedule service to be restored. It is extremely important that customers do not attempt this themselves.

“Our customers are extremely important to us.  All of our crews were unified in wanting to restore service as safely and quickly as possible,” said Jeff Staudenmaier, Operations Manager. “We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who assisted us in this effort including the City of Dubuque Fire Department, the technicians who traveled to lend a hand, and our customers and community who extended us their patience and support through this process.”

Local Black Hills Energy employees were joined by others from across eastern Iowa.  More than 27 Black Hills Energy emergency response personnel and support staff  responded to the City of Dubuque to help bring natural gas to every impacted customer after service was disrupted on Monday, October 11.

Customers can find additional information about the outage and Black Hills Energy’s response on our social media pages. 

Please remember the following safety tips:
•    If you smell natural gas, leave the building or area immediately.  Alert others, too. 
•    After you’re safe, call 911 and Black Hills Energy’s emergency number at 888-890-5554. Never assume someone else has reported a natural gas leak. 
•    Do not turn on lights, ignite a flame, use a cell phone or anything else that might cause a spark, including a flashlight or generator. 
•    Never attempt to repair a natural gas leak, and do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off. 
 

Black Hills Energy continues to restore natural gas service to Dubuque customers

DUBUQUE, Iowa – October 11, 2021 Early Monday morning, a vehicle hit a Black Hills Energy meter set in Dubuque, resulting in disruption of service to customers in the area. Immediately following restoration of system pressure around 5:00 p.m., technicians began relighting residential and commercial customers. Technicians will continue to restore service to approximately 119 customers until 9:00 p.m. this evening and will continue efforts tomorrow morning. Additional Black Hills Energy employees from across eastern Iowa have joined the effort to expedite restoration of service to Dubuque customers. 

At locations where no one is home or the business is closed, a flag will be placed in the yard and a tag will be left on the door notifying the customer that the natural gas has been shut off and to call the company for it to be turned back on. Additionally, someone over 18 years of age is required to be present during the relighting process, customers should not attempt to relight their appliances on their own.

When a technician arrives to restore service, they will turn on the meter and then perform a variety of safety checks on gas appliances indoors, measuring for gas and carbon monoxide to identify any safety issues. 

For updates on service restoration efforts, customers can check our social media channels or call us at 888-890-5554.

Our technicians will be prepared to safely restore service by wearing appropriate PPE and asking COVID-19 screening questions before entering homes and businesses. Our technicians practice social distancing and closely follow all national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines regarding COVID-19, including wearing masks. Additionally, we ask that our customers also wear a mask while our technicians are in your home. Learn more about our COVID-19 precautions at www.blackhillsenergy.com

Please remember the following safety tips:

  • Be alert for leaking natural gas. If you smell natural gas, leave the building or area immediately and tell others to leave too. 
  • After you’re safely away from the area, call 911 and our emergency number at 888-890-5554. Never assume someone else has reported a natural gas leak. Alert your neighbors. 
  • Do not turn on lights, ignite a flame, use a cell phone or use anything that might cause a spark, including a flashlight or a generator. 
  • Never attempt to repair a natural gas leak, and do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off. 
     

Black Hills Energy works to restore natural gas service to Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa – Oct. 11, 2021 A vehicle hit a Black Hills Energy meter set in Dubuque, resulting in disruption of service to customers in the area. Black Hills Energy technicians are working non-stop to complete a multi-step process to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. To safely facilitate repairs, technicians will first go door-to-door turning off service to approximately 140 impacted natural gas meters. Our technicians will then complete any needed repairs and restore system pressure. Immediately following repairs and restoration of system pressure, technicians will begin relighting residential customers, and technicians will spread across the city to resume service restoration efforts. 

For updates on service restoration efforts, customers can check our social media channels or call us at 888-890-5554.

Our technicians will be prepared to safely restore service by wearing appropriate PPE and asking COVID-19 screening questions before entering homes and businesses. Our technicians practice social distancing and closely follow all national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines regarding COVID-19, including wearing masks. Additionally, we ask that our customers also wear a mask while our technicians are in your home. Learn more about our COVID-19 precautions at www.blackhillsenergy.com

Please remember the following safety tips:

  • Be alert for leaking natural gas. If you smell natural gas, leave the building or area immediately and tell others to leave too. 
  • After you’re safely away from the area, call 911 and our emergency number at 888-890-5554. Never assume someone else has reported a natural gas leak. Alert your neighbors. 
  • Do not turn on lights, ignite a flame, use a cell phone or use anything that might cause a spark, including a flashlight or a generator. 
  •  Never attempt to repair a natural gas leak, and do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off.