Belgium’s Mons residents still without gas days after major outage

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - More than 10,000 households in Mons, Belgium, remain without gas on Monday, several days after a major technical incident at a substation disrupted service, broadcaster RTBF reported.

The outage, which affected a total of 12,000 households, began last week.

Despite technicians working day and night only about 2,000 meters have been reconnected so far, gas and electricity operator ORES spokesperson Annabel Vanbever told the broadcaster.

No date has been announced for a full return to normal.

“No date for a return to normal is planned; we don’t want to give residents false hope,” Vanbever said, noting that progress depends on completing a door-to-door reconnection campaign.

The city of Mons is providing temporary solutions for affected residents.

The situation was worsened by a surge in electricity demand late Sunday, which caused a fire at an electrical substation and a power outage affecting roughly 300 homes.