O&R to Install an Additional 30,000 Natural Gas Detectors

After successfully completing a pilot program that installed just over 16,000 natural gas detectors throughout its service territory, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) has announced that the company will be installing an additional 30,000 units between 2025 and 2027.

Natural gas detectors enhance safety for O&R’s gas customers by monitoring the air in the area where O&R’s gas service pipe enters a customer’s home or building. If levels of natural gas in that area indicate a potential leak, the natural gas detector will sound an audible alarm and also send an alert to the company’s gas emergency response center. O&R will then follow proper protocols to respond and investigate.

Along with Storti Quality Services, the contractor assisting with the installation of the natural gas detectors, O&R has developed a targeted outreach plan to notify gas customers that they are eligible to have a natural gas detector installed free of charge. The devices operate similar to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and have a 10-year battery life. 

“The natural gas detector technology has proven to be a game changer, not only for the safety of our customers, but for the way our company has been able to respond to gas emergencies,” said Won Choe, O&R vice president of Operations. “While O&R is fully committed to the clean energy transition, we must invest to meet our obligation of providing safe and reliable natural gas service to our customers.”

Through the outreach plan, customers will receive a letter or postcard from O&R several weeks prior to the estimated installation date. Customers can also contact the phone number on the postcard to schedule an appointment for the installation. The natural gas detector will then be installed in the area where the gas service pipe enters a customer’s home or building. The installation should take no longer than one hour and does not require gas service to be turned off.