A year and a half after a natural gas-related townhouse explosion rocked a Columbia community, utility provider Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has launched a safety campaign to relocate precariously placed gas meters.

The townhouse explosion in September 2015 in the Clary’s Chase townhouse community in Hickory Ridge left six townhouses uninhabitable, injured two people and caused an estimated $2 million in damage.

Investigators determined the Clary’s Chase blast was triggered by a gas leak set off when a homeowner struck the piping from their gas meter as they were backing out of the garage. There was less than 3 feet of space in the garage between the meter and where a vehicle could drive, according to a February 2016 report on the incident from the Maryland Public Service Commission.

The report concluded that BGE didn’t follow federal pipeline safety regulations for meter location and protection against damage, and ordered the utility company to identify and protect gas meters susceptible to damage within garages in its service area.

The commission also fined the utility provider $25,000 as a civil penalty for the Columbia incident.

BGE’s meter initiative will begin in Anne Arundel County, which has one of the highest concentrations of gas meters inside of garages in BGE’s coverage area, according to company officials.

“If you look at anything newly built, the meters are outside,” said Justin Mulcahy, a BGE spokesman. “With older homes, sometimes that wasn’t the case.”

“Basically, not just from a safety standpoint, but how our standards are now and how the industry’s going, these [meters] have to be relocated outside.”

Following the Columbia explosion, BGE relocated and safeguarded gas meters for 29 properties in the Clary’s Chase community in March 2016, Mulcahy said.

BGE’s goal, Mulcahy said, is to begin relocating and safeguarding remaining meters in Howard County in the second quarter of 2018.

The company estimates it will relocate 621 indoor gas meters in Howard County, as well as install 2,164 protective barriers for outdoor meters.

As the campaign begins, BGE has begun to reach out to Anne Arundel homeowners whose meters need safeguarding. The effort started in Crofton and will move to Odenton and Edgewater, Mulcahy said.

The company has determined that 1,391 indoor gas meters in Anne Arundel County will have to be relocated or safeguarded, according to Mulcahy. BGE so far has safeguarded 66 gas meters and relocated 27 meters in Anne Arundel homes, he said.

The work is part of a five-year plan to address exposed garage meters throughout BGE’s gas service area, which in addition to Howard and Anne Arundel counties also includes Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Cecil counties.

The utility also serves portions of Calvert, Prince George’s, Montgomery and Frederick counties.

In Anne Arundel, the project will continue throughout 2017 and into the first quarter of 2018.

The effort to reach out to residents whose homes will be affected is “multipronged,” according to Mulcahy. BGE has held meetings with public officials and homeowners associations, and contacted residents individually through letters, door hangers and utility employees knocking on doors.

They’ve also set up an email inbox for customers to send questions and concerns at meterprotection@bge.com.

Because of the danger of leaving a meter exposed, the work is not optional, Mulcahy said.

“It really isn't an option to leave it inside,” he said. “Public safety is paramount.”

—Libby Solomon contributed to this story.