Natural Gas company

[BarkingGhostar]

So, in our recent bill our gas bill went up instead of down. It always goes down as the weather gets warmer. In the same unexpectedly higher bill there is a notice that we can pay for a device to stop the flow of gas in case of a leak. It is designed to be installed, according to them, on their side of the meter.

WTF? If a leak exists on their side of the meter then it is of no financial burden to me as the waste isn't registered on the meter. There is a ten foot section of buried pipe that runs along the poured concrete wall on the garage side of the house to a point where it enters the daylight (walkout) basement.

If a leak had sprung the indicator, something your smell and what gives the NG its infamous smell, would have been detected--especially if the leak was inside the house. So, I got to thinking that the natural gas company is trying to sell these gas-stop devices and what better way to hide a NG price increase than to do both at the same time.

"Oh yeah, you got a leak ..." Not! So I go asking my neighbors and they bills also went up and they also got the same offered to be charged to install a device to stop a leak on the gas company's side of the meter.

How many people out there are that gullible? BTW, I have experienced a NG leak on the outside of a home many, many years ago. It is a distinct smell and one I recognized the day I bought this home as the fireplace NG starter burner had a leak and filled the home. My nose and mind is readily aware of the smell. Nice way to increase the summer rate by distracting people with false leaks en mass.

 

[disappoint]

Natural gas keeps me company every time I "spring a leak".

 

[cbrunny]

our bill went up because of cap & trade.

 

[Tweak155]

My bill shot way down thankfully. Just about half. I suspect another small drop on next bill.

 

[KB]

Nat Gas prices have been rising since March because they have been artificially low due to huge supplies. Since more power companies are switching to Nat Gas expect prices to rise and fall based on growing demand and then matching growing supply.

https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-analysis-may-15-2017-407321


"WTF? If a leak exists on their side of the meter then it is of no financial burden to me as the waste isn't registered on the meter."

Reread their document. I think they install the leak preventer on their side of the meter to prevent leaks on your side of the meter. That would make much more sense. Its like the regulator on your propane tank. If it see a free-flow event it turns off the flow.

 

[AMCRambler]

They've offered to install and excess flow valve on your service line that will automatically shut the gas off if something down stream of it breaks. This includes their service piping and everything inside of your house. It will keep your house from filling up with gas and blowing up. Has nothing to do with how much gas you are consuming.

Read your bill and see how many mcf's of gas you consumed. Compare that to last months bill. If you consumed less gas and the bill went up or stayed the same then yes your prices increased and it's worth a call to find out why. Many utilities offer a program to lock in your gas rates for a year so that you can level out price spikes caused by supply and demand. Just realize if you do this and the price drops, you'll be paying more than market price.

 

[highland145]

Weather Normalization Adjustment maybe.

 

[Doodoo]

And I believe it was a federal requirement for utilities to inform their customers of this option. So odds are they aren't trying to hide their rates by trying to sell you this valve.

 

[Darwin333]

They've offered to install and excess flow valve on your service line that will automatically shut the gas off if something down stream of it breaks. This includes their service piping and everything inside of your house. It will keep your house from filling up with gas and blowing up. Has nothing to do with how much gas you are consuming.

Read your bill and see how many mcf's of gas you consumed. Compare that to last months bill. If you consumed less gas and the bill went up or stayed the same then yes your prices increased and it's worth a call to find out why. Many utilities offer a program to lock in your gas rates for a year so that you can level out price spikes caused by supply and demand. Just realize if you do this and the price drops, you'll be paying more than market price.

How does my house fill up with gas if everything inside of my house is working properly but something downstream breaks?

 

[BoomerD]

How does my house fill up with gas if everything inside of my house is working properly but something downstream breaks?

If something UP-stream from the meter breaks, it PROBABLY won't fill your house...but the excess flow valve won't stop that anyway. It ONLY comes into play when something downstream (your appliances, piping between the meter and your house)

Remember, as the "end user" on that service line, YOU are the "downstream" end...everything before you is "upstream."

 

[Darwin333]

If something UP-stream from the meter breaks, it PROBABLY won't fill your house...but the excess flow valve won't stop that anyway. It ONLY comes into play when something downstream (your appliances, piping between the meter and your house)

Remember, as the "end user" on that service line, YOU are the "downstream" end...everything before you is "upstream."

Ahh, thanks. Got mixed up with the terminology.

Edit: Other than a catastrophic pipe break or something, how does it know the difference between high usage like say the hot water heater going, gas dryer going, gas heater on, and cooking at the same time versus a broken oven filling the house with gas?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Nat Gas prices have been rising since March because they have been artificially low due to huge supplies. Since more power companies are switching to Nat Gas expect prices to rise and fall based on growing demand and then matching growing supply.

https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-analysis-may-15-2017-407321


"WTF? If a leak exists on their side of the meter then it is of no financial burden to me as the waste isn't registered on the meter."

Reread their document. I think they install the leak preventer on their side of the meter to prevent leaks on your side of the meter. That would make much more sense. Its like the regulator on your propane tank. If it see a free-flow event it turns off the flow.

The first time I read it I thought I had read it wrong, but they were making cases of excavations, etc., between the street and the meter. BTW, I asked three neighbors and all of theirs bills also went up and they also got the notice for Excess Flow Valve installation. And the cost is US500-1,000 plus a nice monthly maintenance fee, too. So, it isn't specifically me, but a target campaign.

On a side note, at least they were honest about all of the scenarios about how the EFV could trigger incorrectly, like suddenly using more gas 'at once' than normal, a corrected low-consuming appliance replaced with one that consumes more, etc. Those scenarios alone were enough to not consider their [ahem] offer.

This isn't to say something couldn't go wrong, but the EFV was designed to save them losing gas, not me anything. I have had failures of service-entrance utilities in the form of a water line failing just outside my home while I was on vacation abroad. No need for an EFV there as the water company corrected the bill based on many years history and removed overages after I had the line replaced between meter and home. Kudos to them.

 

[BoomerD]

Ahh, thanks. Got mixed up with the terminology.

Edit: Other than a catastrophic pipe break or something, how does it know the difference between high usage like say the hot water heater going, gas dryer going, gas heater on, and cooking at the same time versus a broken oven filling the house with gas?

none of those...hell, ALL of those at the same time don't have enough flow to trip an excess flow valve.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Utilities have been going up every year here, it's ridiculous. Same with taxes. I remember paying only $95/mo in natural gas. Yeah those days are gone.

 

[walrus]

A leak dector would only be able to dect a catastrophic leak,like a complete break in the gas line. A leak from a cracked pipe or stove burner left on wouldn't trigger it and would leak enough gas to blow your house to smithereens.

 

[Red Squirrel]

A half decent methane detector should work even for a small leak. I have a hydrogen sensor in my server room and it tends to register a reading when the batteries are charging after a power outage. Though I need to calibrate it better, temperature seems to affect the reading, used to get lot of false positives and had to adjust the threshold.

 

[John Connor]

This is total bullshit. Natural gas is abundant and we are the number 1! producer in the world. There is no sense in the price skyrocketing.

 

[John Connor]

A half decent methane detector should work even for a small leak. I have a hydrogen sensor in my server room and it tends to register a reading when the batteries are charging after a power outage. Though I need to calibrate it better, temperature seems to affect the reading, used to get lot of false positives and had to adjust the threshold.

I've seen the meters on Amazon and eBay.