With Customer Safety a Priority, Orange & Rockland to Install an Additional 30,000 Natural Gas Detectors Over the Next Three Years
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.”
“Storti Quality Services is proud to be supporting Orange & Rockland in the groundbreaking NGD Program. As local residents ourselves, our project team is committed to safety and peace of mind for the community,” said Joel Hutwelker, Storti Quality Services president.
O&R has announced that an additional 30,000 natural gas detectors will be installed throughout its service territory after installing 16,000 units between 2018-2024.
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.
After a major gas event in East Harlem in 2014, O&R and Con Edison began taking critical measures to design and produce natural gas detectors specifically made to communicate over the company’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). In 2024 alone, O&R responded to 45 natural gas detector alarms, alerting the company to various categories of potential gas leaks. Since O&R began installing the natural gas detectors in 2018, the company has responded to approximately 90 alerts.
Any customer who has not been contacted but is interested in having a natural gas detector installed in their home or business, can request one by contacting Storti Quality Services at (347) 514-9133. Customers who simply would like more information about the devices can visit www.oru.com/naturalgasdetector.
O&R reminds customers, if your natural gas detector alarm is triggered, or if you smell gas, evacuate and call 911 or 1-800-533-LEAK.
About O&R
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility that provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange and Rockland Utilities) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 140,000 customers in New York.