SGN faces six-figure compensation bill over Falkirk gas network failure
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Andrew Milligan/PA
Gas distribution company SGN faces a six-figure compensation bill after 8,000 homes in the Falkirk area were left without gas following an outage.
As of 14:00 on Wednesday, SGN had visited every property but were unable to gain access to fewer than 250.
Affected households will receive £30 compensation for each 24-hour period without gas, as agreed with energy regulator Ofgem.
SGN said it would also offer a £30 goodwill gesture to these households.
A problem with a "governor" station which regulates gas pressure in the local network developed at about 04:30 on Sunday.
It meant thousands of people woke up on Sunday to discover they had no heating or hot water as their boilers shut down.
Homes in Bainsford, Carron, Carronshore, Larbert, Langlees, New Carron Village, Skinflats and Stenhousemuir were affected.
SGN said engineers from other firms were assisting the operation, which had reconnected more than 6,500 properties by Tuesday evening.
The company said that it had also drafted in colleagues from its depots in southern England to help reconnect the remaining properties.
Almost all schools in the Falkirk area have reopened after the outage forced their closure on Monday.
All secondaries, and primary schools except Bainsford and Kinnaird schools and Thistle Wing have reopened, but Larbert day nursery remains closed.
Affected residents have been collecting heaters and hotplates from Camelon Community Centre, with Falkirk Community Trust opening its sports centre for people to use its showers.
Falkirk Council said it was working with SGN, the emergency services, health workers, and volunteers to distribute heating and cooking equipment.
The council's chief executive Kenneth Lawrie told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland: "Really our focus has been on vulnerable people - we know who our vulnerable customers are.
"We've contacted all of them and we're trying to put support arrangements in place."
