Demand for heat cuts homes’ gas on coldest night

Jessica Benton
Households were left without heating on the coldest night of the year so far after soaring demand cut gas supply to parts of Torquay on Tuesday night, according to a supplier.
A spokesperson for SP AusNet blamed the “extremely cold weather”.
“We had unprecedented demand on our gas supply, which unfortunately affected some residents in the Torquay area,” the spokesperson said.
About 10 households reported they had lost their gas supply during the “two-hour cut off”.
“We had reports that 10 houses were affected in the two hours from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. As soon as we became aware of the problem, we were quick to rectify and were able to pump more gas to the area so there was sufficient supply,” the spokesperson said.
Geelong Weather Services’ Lindsay Smail said Tuesday night’s wet and windy weather was cold but nothing “out of the ordinary” for the first month of winter in the region.
Mr Smail said temperatures dropped to about 5C amid the cold front.
Rain gauges recorded only 4mm despite showers and hail late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.
“There’s been nothing out of the ordinary,” Mr Smail said.
“There was a little bit of hail but no thunderstorms and no snow – it’s just been cold.”
Mr Smail said the weather felt particularly cold because of accompanying wind.
“When we get wind and cold, there’s a low wind-chill that makes it seem as though it’s a lot colder.”
Mr Smail predicted another cold spell but little rain over the weekend and into next week.
The region’s water storages were at 18.1 per cent capacity on Wednesday.
Bureau of Meteorology has forecast light showers through to Saturday, with temperatures ranging between three and 14C.