Multinet Gas is an Australian energy company and one of three Victoriannatural gas distribution networks. Multinet Gas distributes natural gas to more than 690,000 customers throughout Melbourne's inner eastern suburbs and outer Eastern Suburbs, the Yarra Ranges, and South Gippsland. The network comprises 175 km of licensed Transmission Pipelines, 9,959 km of distribution mains, and 258 regulator stations. The Multinet Gas area has over 200 km of low pressure gas mains, some of which are cast iron mains that date back to the 1880s. These older cast iron mains are subject to water ingress during wet weather and as such, are the common cause of supply reliabilityissues. Multinet Gas' mains Replacement Program is aimed at replacing low-pressure gas distribution mains in the network and is targeting to replace all low-pressure mains by 2033. Upgraded low-pressure mains are typically replaced with high-pressure polyethylene gas mains by inserting the new ductile polyethylene pipe into the existing cast iron main. This method minimizes damage to property and offers additional protection to the polyethylene mains.
History
Gas networks were first built in Melbourne by the Metropolitan Gas Company some time before the 1880s. In 1951 the Metropolitan Gas Company was taken over by the government-owned monopoly supplier, the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria. G&FC owned the Melbourne gas network area from 1951 until the privatization in 1997. The company is owned by the DUET Group, which was purchased in 2017, by Cheung Kong Infrastructure for A$7.4 billion. CKI controls other energy networks in Australia, including United Energy, an electricity distributor in Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula; CitiPower in Melbourne; Powercor in western Melbourne and western Victoria; and Envestra, which distributes gas through Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. After the acquisition, CKI controls three out of five electricity distributors and two out of three gas distributors in Victoria. As of 2018, Multinet Gas is operated as a part of Australian Gas Infrastructure Group in conjunction with the other CKI owned Australian gas distribution Networks.
