Utility Will Finish Appliance Replacement By Sept. 15

ANDOVER, MA — Appliances damaged by and temporarily repaired following the Sept. 15 gas explosions in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence will be replaced by Sept. 15, a representative from Columbia Gas of Massachusetts told Andover Selectmen Monday. The deadline applies to the approximately 900 customers who were part of the utility's rapid-relight program as it worked for three months following the explosions to restore service to thousands of customers.

Kirk Cresto, vice president of Merrimack Valley operations at Columbia Gas, said the utility will either replace appliances with newer, similar appliances or allow customers with standard-efficiency appliance to upgrade to higher-efficiency appliances. In either case, there will be no cost to the customers. The company plans to complete evaluations by July and perform most of the replacement work in August.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).