Homeowners beware: Enbridge is coming to a town near you | (Cold) Home With Tess

Have you by chance heard of the gas line replacement project that Enbridge, formerly known as Dominion, is conducting across Northeast Ohio?

If not, get ready — it’s most likely coming to a town near you.

You would know if you’ve heard of it. Or, you probably would have at least had the creeping suspicion something was afoot when work crews posted up in your yard and began digging away.

That’s how it started for us. Last week, as I sat in the kitchen with my son — ironically planting seeds on my never-ending mission to beautify our yard — a crew with trucks rolled up and began tearing it apart.

I didn’t know what they were doing, but I figured it was something I had received notice of and forgot about, so I merely watched in annoyance as the crew began to work.

The real frustration didn’t start until later that day, when my husband called to let me know our gas and heat were out. Little did I know that was just the beginning of a frigid week.

My experience with Enbridge

Stephanie Moore, a communications consultant with Enbridge, confirmed we had in fact received notice of this work in the form of one mail flier and one email, both sent roughly a month and a half before the work started, and neither of which we recall getting.

The flier explains that when crews arrive, they will turn off gas service for a period of time to perform the work: “For this reason, a Dominion employee or an authorized contractor will attempt to notify you prior to this work to coordinate our project schedule.”

As far as I know, we were not contacted again before crews started work.

And before crews could turn off our gas, it went kaput on its own.

So began the absurdity of trying to restore access to our heat, stove and dryer.

From my rudimentary understanding of the situation, water was getting into in the old line, which we were still connected to, and needed to be pumped every few hours until we were hooked up to the new line. If it wasn’t pumped in time, our gas shut off, and crews needed to come into our house to restore it.

Much to our chagrin, crews didn’t come regularly. Every time we realized the fans hadn’t kicked on, we started the maddening cycle all over again: Call Enbridge’s emergency line to explain the situation; have a crew come out to pump the line and turn our gas back on; ask progressively more assertive questions about how and when this will be resolved; receive reassurance without results; repeat.

After six days of calling Enbridge roughly three times a day, juggling times for them to come over (and usually receiving no notice when they were on their way), eating takeout, watching my plants slowly wither away from the cold and bundling up my 2-year-old son each night before bed, our message finally made it to the right people.

A crew showed up the Monday after Easter to connect us to a higher pressure gas line and end the runaround. It was after a holiday weekend, so perhaps that was part of the holdup; but it was also, as my husband pointed out, the first business day after I had reached out to Moore about writing this article.

Whatever the reason for their sudden urgency, it did the trick. We are back in business with our natural gas — at least for now.

We do still have a giant hole in our yard, though.

What should homeowners expect?

Moore tells me my case is not typical. In fact, she said our experience is reported in less than 1% of Enbridge's projects.

So, if Enbridge begins replacing the pipeline in your yard, the process will likely go smoother.

By the end of 2023, Enbridge had replaced more than 2,350 miles of gas lines, about 42% of its planned 5,500 miles in its $4 billion project.

Replacements are underway in three different areas of Cuyahoga Falls, Moore said, and more will be coming for the city, as well as Akron, Barberton, Canton and Copley.

Enbridge has 538 miles of pipeline left to replace in Summit County, 331 miles left in Stark, 40 in Portage and 16 in Medina. The company expects to be able to replace 150 miles of pipeline a year, Moore said.

Our main issues in this whole situation revolved around communication. Moore said in addition to a mailer, residents should receive biweekly emails (if their email address is on file) and a reminder via an automated phone call a week before the project starts. Contractors onsite should also be able to answer questions, she said, and use door hangers to communicate to the customer “based on the needs of the project.”

For us, these communications appeared to be sorely lacking. The only evidence we have of any of those communications is a single email.

But in all fairness, Beacon Journal photographer Phil Masturzo, a fellow Cuyahoga Falls resident, said he had no issues with communication or gas outages when the pipeline in his yard was replaced. So, perhaps we were truly that unlucky 1%.

If you haven't received any communications about this project yet, Moore recommended checking that the contact information on your customer profile is correct. She also suggested submitting concerns on their website.

Oh, and it sounds like someone should be coming to take care of that hole in my yard, too.

Learning lessons

My experience was perhaps a rite of passage as a homeowner. Utilities have outages. Big problems do happen.

But it was also, to be completely transparent, a learning lesson (or several). It was the first experience in my life where I have, for an extended time, gone to bed cold, where my son has gone to bed cold, where I’ve been seriously limited in my access to a hot meal.

The place of privilege from which I write does not escape me. I see even what a privilege it is for me to have connections within Enbridge who could have potentially helped move my situation along, and for me to have a column to use to tell people about my experience.

What was our major inconvenience is someone else’s reality all day, every day. Ultimately, I’m lucky to be able to write about this from the other side.

Everyone deserves to have utility problems that are, at their very worst, an inconvenience.

Reach Theresa “Tess” Bennett at tbennett@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Enbridge pipeline replacement project brought atypical gas outages