Albany residents to face bills of $600-$2000 in bottled gas switch; Leary calls for State to take over network

Albany residents will face bills between $600 to $2000 to convert from town to bottled gas once the decommissioning of the city’s gas network starts later this year, according to local plumbers. Network owner ATCO dropped the bombshell news on January 19 that it would be switching off the city’s reticulated gas, forcing about 8000 Albany customers to find other sources of energy. Two plumbing businesses based in Albany confirmed the likely cost to switch to bottles from piped gas — though both said their estimates could rise depending on any siteworks, additional pipework and the location of bottles at each property. Another issue that could slug residents even more is having to replace old appliances which may not comply with modern regulations, because plumbers cannot sign off on work unless appliances are up to code. There are also rules around where gas bottles can be placed, including minimum distances from windows and electrical boxes. Businesses also face risk and uncertainty, to the fury of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while Albany MLA Scott Leary has called on the State Government to take over the network. Mr Leary said ATCO should not be allowed to walk away and should contribute financially to finding a solution. He said his team was working on cost estimates of $1500 per household to make the switch. ACCI chief executive Tracey Bridges said her organisation was collecting impact statements from businesses about costs and likely operational shutdowns. She slammed the lack of consultation from ATCO and the way it announced it was pulling the plug. “The lack of consultation leading up to this announcement has put our businesses in a position of high risk and stress; this is not the start to 2026 that we wanted,” she said. ATCO has said it will start decommissioning the Albany network in the second half of this year, with the process taking three years to complete. It said many of its pipes were nearing the end of their service life and would cost around $80m to replace. Esperance phased out reticulated gas on March 31, 2023, 18 months after the Esperance Gas Distribution Company announced it would not supply the town any more. However, only 379 customers were affected and the State Government facilitated a 12-month extension and a $10.5m transition plan through Horizon Power to help them move to alternate sources of energy. In contrast, Albany has around 8000 customers, primarily residential, who are likely to be affected. Businesses may also have a problem with gas bottle storage as there needs to be enough land to safely store oversized bottles and allow access to trucks for refills. Ms Bridges said the ACCI was lobbying ATCO for more information and assessing if Albany had sufficient accredited plumbers to do the work. “The ACCI is collecting impact statements from its membership and business community so we can have a realistic idea of what the operational and financial impacts of the decommissioning of town gas will look like,” she said. “We are also gauging capacity of trades and service providers that will be needed in the transition. “We need to make sure ATCO understand what the actual implementation process will look like for our business community; what it costs, what it will take, what operational shut-down periods will be and what the true impact will be.” Mr Leary said the government had been “bleating” about utilities being sold into private hands and this was a chance for the gas network to return to State control. “The best solution is to replace the network, and the best option is for the government to take over,” he said.