‘We will need to visit every property with a gas supply’
William Telford Senior Reporter and Business Specialist
10:18, 04 Jan 2026
Gas engineers have been at work in the South Hams
Engineers have repaired a damaged gas pipeline which cut off a huge area of Devon – but will now need to visit every building affected twice today.
Staff working for Wales and West Utilities have begun the mammoth task but it won’t be complete until much later today.
They have not said how many households and businesses have been affected in the South Hams, but have asked people to stay at home and be in when engineers call.
It comes after properties in Kingsbridge, Malborough and Salcombe were cut off when a “third party” carrying out work in a field at Belle Hill, near Kingsbridge, damaged the gas main yesterday.
The gas supply was stopped, leaving homes with no heating and some businesses in the area even had to close. Wales and West Utilities this morning told PlymouthLive that engineers had worked all night to fix the problem.
But they will now need to visit every affected property and switch off the gas supply at the control valve. When they have done this they will have to visit every property again and make sure the gas is turned on again – safely.
The utility company has drafted in extra staff and said it hopes to have the operation completed “as quickly as we can”.
A Wales and West Utilities spokesperson said: “Our team has worked through the night on what was a very challenging job, and have successfully completed the repair.
“As part of the process to restore supplies, we will need to visit every property with a gas supply and switch off the supply at the control valve, which is located near the meter.
“Our teams of engineers have already started visiting properties to complete this work. It will help speed up the process for restoring the gas if people can make every effort to be in today when our engineers call.
“We have also drafted in additional engineers from elsewhere across our network to support with this work.
“Once this has been completed, which likely will be by late afternoon, we will then be in a position to begin returning gas supplies to properties.
“In order for this to be done safely, we will need to visit each property again to ensure their gas is turned back on safely.
“We will visit each property as quickly as we can, but we ask people to please remain patient and bear with us as we try to get to everyone as quickly as we can.”
“If for whatever reason you are not in when we call, we will leave a card with information on how to contact us to have your gas supply returned safely.”
The company stressed that if at any point anyone smells gas, they should call the National Gas Emergency line on 0800 111999.
‘All our engineers will have their ID badges with them and will be happy for you to verify their identification by calling our ID verification line on 0800 3160478,” the spokesperson said.
“We continue to appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to restore supplies. We will provide a further update during the course of the day.”
The outage started yesterday afternoon and Wales and West Utilities contacted customers on its Priority Services Register to offer alternative heating and cooking facilities.
The company today said: “We are continuing our work to visit customers in the area registered on the Priority Services Register to provide them with alternative cooking and heating facilities.
“We continue to ask anyone who is aware of a family member or neighbour who may be vulnerable to check in on them.
“If anyone still requires assistance, please speak with one of our engineers who are working throughout the area.”