The Public Utility Commission has approved a revised settlement totaling nearly $1 million with a gas utility over a 2019 explosion in western Pennsylvania that reduced a home to rubble and injured five people.
Canonsburg-based Columbia Gas took responsibility for the July 2019 blast in North Franklin Township, saying it had failed to install a key piece of equipment in the home while workers nearby upgraded a gas main. Officials said the home lacked a pressure regulator, and when the new system was engaged with much higher pressure, the pipes in the home leaked and that led to the explosion.
The homeowner, a neighbor and three firefighters were hurt in the blast, which also damaged cars and nearby homes. Columbia’s insurance company earlier paid out more than $3 million to cover the damage, with $2 million to cover the property damage and another $1 million for personal injury and emotional distress.
Commissioners in December had rejected an earlier proposed settlement reached by commission staff with the utility, saying they wanted more information about the extent and cost of damage and about how the company had remedied deficiencies identified during this and other incidents.
On Thursday, the commission unanimously approved the revised settlement, which carries a $990,000 civil penalty that the utility cannot recover from ratepayers. The settlement also lays out corrective actions such as enhanced training and ways to identify and map system infrastructure and customer service lines, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The Pennsylvania gas utility is part of Columbia Gas, owned by NiSource, which supplies gas to customers in six states. A year before the North Franklin explosion, a series of similar blasts in Massachusetts’ Merrimack Valley were attributed to the utility company, according to news reports. More than 80 homes were damaged or destroyed and one person died.
The explosions resulted in numerous property insurance claims, a class-action settlement and multiple subrogation actions Columbia Gas and its liability insurers. The firm sold its Massachusetts utility in 2020.
Photo: The rubble from the Pennsylvania home that exploded in 2019. (Jessie Wardarski/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Topics Pennsylvania
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