Merrimack Valley residents hope for answers at packed Columbia Gas meetings

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Columbia Gas officials hosted several meetings Saturday for residents still looking for answers on gas restoration.

It's been more than six weeks since anyone in Lawrence, Andover or North Andover has been able to live their normal lives.

"Stressed. So, I'm just trying to make the best of a situation right now," said Maribell Amezaga.

Frustrated residents begged Columbia Gas to be more clear and direct at Saturday's open houses.

>> Columbia Gas sets new restoration deadline of Dec. 16

"If I don’t get out there I’m not getting any help, no one comes to my house. I’ve had to go out every single time to get anything done. So again, lack of communication."

Officials fielded questions about freezing pipes, frustration with appliance replacement and the looming deadline that has now been pushed back to December.

"It’s not that we’ve known for some time, we’ve seen the challenges for some time and we’ve hired some additional resources to overcome the challenges and then you start to see, oh we really need to take a closer look at detail of schedules for each individual customer," said NiSource CEO Joe Hamrock.

But still, folks need an unwavering timeline. Hamrock says Saturday was all about getting everyone on the same page.

"That's why we made this big adjustment here in the last couple of days to step back, reassess and give me specific detail and communication to each customer. And we need to make sure that our customer service reps and our claims reps have access to the same information," said Hamrock.

Cox Media Group