Gas company delays leaving them cold
RESIDENTS at Lithgow’s Tanderra aged care facility have been forced to endure a shortage of hot water as the district’s biggest gas supplier, AGL, continues to delay the installation of new gas meters.
It is a double whammy for the community based Lithgow Aged Care board who have had to put a $32 million Cooinda-Tanderra expansion on hold because of government delays in approving additional bed licences.
Local plumbing contractors have completed the upgrading of hot water installations at Tanderra but the new work can not be commissioned until AGL provides the new meters.
And this was this week continuing to be a stumbling block with AGL unable to provide a compliance date.
The Mercury was told that calls by the contractors to AGL have gone nowhere after being diverted to an overseas call centre followed by requests to complete written requests that had already been duplicated.
A spokesperson for Lithgow Aged Care has confirmed the delays and said there appears no early resolution to the frustrating situation.
“The plumbers have completed the installation of new hot water systems, new pipes and new gas mains but can’t commission the system until AGL plays its part,” treasurer Olwyn King said.
“Our elderly residents should not have to put up with a shortage of hot water, particularly in a Lithgow winter.”
Concerns about the adequacy of services provided by AGL are nothing new.
In recent years there have been frequent complaints from consumers in the Lithgow local government area, mainly relating to billing after meter readings have been based on estimates rather than readings.
AGL engages an outside contractor to carry out the meter reading duties but complaints keep coming.
Some of the excuses provided for not reading meters have been ridiculed by property owners.