Million euro payout for gas outage

Utility company Liander is going to pay out almost €1 million to those people affected by the gas outage in Apeldoorn, which left over 1,000 homes without gas in the Sprenkelaar neighborhood at the start of this month.

Maintenance work on gas leads underground in the street took eight days. A lead was struck, causing it to be clogged with mud.

Residents were forced to find creative solutions to the lack of heating, which meant that a swimming pool was turned into a makeshift shower. Electric heaters were given to retirement homes to stave off the night's cold temperatures.

The damages differ per individual home. Some people had gas within four days, others were without for eight days. Because of this, there will be a difference in compensation as well, with homes who suffered longest with the shortage receiving more money from Liander.

The company is thankful for the residents' patience. "It was very kind that they understood the size of the task we as Liander had to realize the gas delivery again", a spokesperson said.