The report below was presented to the Los Alamos County Council on October 22 and the Board of Public Utilities on October 23.
Yes! Communities has retained Cartwright Plumbing to survey each resident’s appliances as part of an effort to investigate the feasibility of converting their appliances to propane over the next several months. These appliance surveys are being performed at no cost to the residents and should be completed by the end of this month. Once the appliance survey is completed, Yes! Communities will evaluate the feasibility of converting the mobile home park to all propane or whether an alternative plan will be developed.
DPU and County staff have met with a few residents from Elk Ridge and assured them that the County has no intentions to shut off the gas until all conversions are complete.
DPU is supporting an informational fact sheet for Elk Ridge and as communication is received, staff is translating the information into Spanish to assist our Spanish speaking residents. Staff will continue to update this webpage/fact sheet as new information is received. When the webpage is updated, DPU will notify Elk Ridge residents who have an email or cell phone number on file.
Since any potential conversion project will take months to implement, DPU’s gas crew has scheduled to perform leak detection surveys for the last week of each month with the next leak detection survey to be performed next week. Trailer skirts will not need to be removed since the last leak detection survey identified where the gas meter risers connect in each home.
DPU has been metering and billing for the natural gas that comes from DOE/LANL through a master meter at Elk Ridge. The gas system at Elk Ridge is unique, not because of the community type, but due to its location. Another example of location differences is that DPU bills YES! Communities for Elk Ridge sewer, even though the sewage goes directly to LANL’s waste processing facility not the WWTP owned and operated by DPU.