Who do I call first — you or 132 771?

132 771, always, for an active gas smell. That's Victoria's gas emergency line; the distributor attends free of charge and makes the supply safe, usually by shutting and tagging the meter. What they don't do is repair your side of the system — that's licensed gasfitting work, which is where we come in, restoring you from 'safe but no gas' to 'fixed, tested and certified'.

Why can't my regular handyman fix a gas fitting?

Because it's illegal, and for once the law tracks the risk perfectly. In Victoria, gasfitting may only be performed by a plumber holding the VBA gasfitting class, with Energy Safe Victoria as the state's gas safety regulator, and a compliance certificate lodged for the work. Unlicensed gas work voids insurance, has no certificate behind it, and gets people killed. Every gas job we do is done under the class and certified.

How do you find a leak that nobody can smell anymore?

Pressure testing. We isolate the consumer piping and watch for pressure drop — a system that holds is tight, one that doesn't has a leak we then localise section by section with detection equipment. It finds leaks far too slow to smell, which is exactly the kind that shows up as a mysteriously higher gas bill.

What usually causes gas leaks in Melbourne homes?

Age and vibration, mostly. Older inner-suburb homes carry decades-old fittings and regulators that corrode and fatigue — bayside salt air accelerates the external ones noticeably. Renovations are the other big source: pipework disturbed by other trades, or appliances reconnected without a proper test. New appliance installs done cheaply and never certified round out the list.

Is a yellow or orange flame on my cooktop dangerous?

It's a warning sign worth acting on. A healthy gas flame burns blue; persistent yellow/orange means incomplete combustion — a burner, air-mix or appliance problem that can produce carbon monoxide. Stop using the affected burner or heater and have it checked. Open-flued gas heaters in particular should be serviced and CO-checked every couple of years; Victorian households have died from skipping it.

Do I get proof the system is safe afterwards?

Yes — the VBA compliance certificate, lodged by us and emailed to you. It certifies the gasfitting work meets the regulations and the system was tested and left safe. Keep it with your property records: insurers ask for it after incidents, and buyers' conveyancers ask for it at sale.

Melbourne Emergency Plumbing

Gas Leak Emergency Melbourne

Network made safe by 132 771 — then licensed gasfitters find and fix the leak properly.

Licensed gasfitting under the proper VBA class — never a general trade guessing
Full-system pressure test to locate the leak, not just the obvious fitting
Repair or replacement of failed fittings, regulators, valves and pipe runs
Appliance connections checked and re-certified after the repair

Licensed
Insured
24/7
Guaranteed

Free quote: Gas Leak Emergency

Average Inner Melbourne response: around 45 minutes

What's included with every gas leak emergency melbourne

Every job includes the basics below — no surprise extras tacked on when the invoice arrives.

Licensed gasfitting under the proper VBA class — never a general trade guessing
Full-system pressure test to locate the leak, not just the obvious fitting
Repair or replacement of failed fittings, regulators, valves and pipe runs
Appliance connections checked and re-certified after the repair
VBA compliance certificate lodged for every gas job — it's the law, and your proof
Carbon monoxide spot checks on open-flued heaters on request
12-month workmanship guarantee on the gasfitting work

When to ring us

Signs you've got an emergency on your hands

Not sure if it's urgent? If you're seeing any of the below in your Melbourne home, don't wait — small problems become expensive ones inside hours.

Gas smell inside the house, in a cupboard, or near the meter — after calling 132 771
Hissing near the meter, a bayonet fitting or behind the cooktop
Gas bill jump with no change in usage — classic slow leak signature
Cooktop or heater flame burning orange/yellow instead of blue
Pilot lights that repeatedly blow out for no visible reason
Headaches or drowsiness that lift when you leave the house (also see a doctor)

Active gas smell? Do this before anything else

Don't operate any switches, phones or flames inside. Open doors and windows as you leave. Get everyone out, then call 132 771 — the Victorian gas emergency line, staffed 24/7 — from a safe distance so the distributor can make the network side safe. If anyone feels unwell, call 000. We handle the repair and certification once the site is safe.

How we fix it

About this service in Melbourne

Gas in Melbourne: the two-step emergency

Gas emergencies in Victoria are deliberately a two-organisation job, and understanding the split saves you time on a bad night.

Step one belongs to the network. Call 132 771 — the state’s 24/7 gas emergency line — for any active gas smell. The distributor attends free, finds the escape point if it’s on the network side, and makes the supply safe, typically by shutting off and tagging your meter. They are thorough, fast, and completely uninterested in fixing anything on your side of the meter — that’s not their job.

Step two belongs to a licensed gasfitter. Everything downstream of the meter — the consumer piping through your walls, the regulators, the bayonet fittings, the cooktop and heater and hot water connections — is private property and licensed-gasfitter territory. Until it’s repaired, pressure-tested and certified, your gas stays off. That gap between “made safe” and “actually working again” is the job this page describes: we attend after the network visit (or for the slow leaks the network never sees), find the fault under pressure test, fix it, re-test the whole system, and lodge the VBA compliance certificate that documents it was left safe.

The leaks nobody smells

The dramatic version of a gas leak announces itself. The common version doesn’t: a fitting that’s been weeping invisibly for months, spending your money through the meter and salting the ground or wall cavity with gas that never quite reaches smell threshold. The tell is usually financial — a gas bill noticeably higher with no usage change — or behavioural, like a pilot light that keeps dying.

Inner Melbourne’s housing serves up predictable versions. Heritage homes in East Melbourne and Albert Park carry original or mid-century gas runs whose fittings are simply old. The bayside strip adds salt-air corrosion to every external regulator and meter connection. And renovated properties everywhere hide the classic post-reno fault: pipework knocked or stressed by other trades, discovered only when someone finally does a proper pressure test. That test is cheap insurance in its own right — we run full consumer-piping tests with certificates for pre-purchase checks and post-renovation sign-offs, not just after emergencies.

Certification isn’t paperwork theatre

Every gas job in Victoria legally ends with a compliance certificate lodged with the VBA, and it’s worth understanding why this one piece of paper matters. It’s the difference between “someone tightened something” and documented evidence that a licensed gasfitter tested the system and left it compliant. Your insurer will ask for it after any gas-related incident. A buyer’s conveyancer will ask for it at sale. We lodge it on every gas job as a matter of course — if anyone offers you gas work without one, that’s the moment to find another tradesperson.

Our process

From quote to repair — four clear steps

Repair workflow

Gas Leak Emergency Melbourne

Same visit, fully tested

1

Step 1
Make it safe — 132 771 first
For any active gas smell: no switches, no flames, ventilate on the way out, everyone outside, then call 132 771 — Victoria's 24/7 gas emergency line — so the distributor makes the supply safe.
2

Step 2
Licensed diagnosis
Our gasfitter pressure-tests the consumer side — everything from the meter into your home — and traces the actual leak with gas detection equipment, not soapy-water guesswork alone.
3

Step 3
Repair and re-test
The failed component is repaired or replaced, then the whole system is pressure-tested again to confirm it holds before the supply is restored and appliances are relit.
4
Step 4
Certify
A VBA compliance certificate is lodged for the work — your legal evidence the system was left safe and compliant — and emailed to you with the invoice.

Every job: 12-month workmanship guarantee · VBA licensed · $20M public liability cover

Real Melbourne rates

What you can expect to pay

Honest pricing based on actual Melbourne market rates. Final quote always confirmed in writing before any work begins — no hidden call-out tricks.

Job type	Melbourne range (AUD)	Notes
Emergency gas leak attendance + diagnosis (pressure test)	$260-450	—
Fitting, valve or regulator replacement	$280-700	—
Bayonet or appliance connection repair	$250-550	—
Section of consumer gas pipe replaced	$500-1,400	—
Full consumer piping test + certificate (e.g. pre-purchase, post-reno)	$300-600	—

Ranges reflect typical Inner Melbourne pricing for 2026. Standard hourly: AUD 130-170. After-hours convenience bookings: AUD 190-320.

Where we cover