krooser
Well-known member
I could have had free heat....UPDATE
Two winters back I was on the road a lot... trucking was good and I took advantage of it. I was gone 10-14 days at a time... that, plus the fact that I had a sore shoulder, meant I spent very little time in my shop.
Long story short I invited my neighbor (good friend) to use my shop to mess with his vintage British motorcycles and such... I barely paid attention to the NG bills. Big mistake... seems he kept the t-stat up all of one month and I got a $365.00 bill (IIRC).
The next two month the gas company "averaged" my bill... no one read the meter. So they used the highest bill so I wound up with a NG tab for over $1000.00!!!
I refused to pay until I got an actual bill...by now it was April and they disconnected my service for non-payment..OK. I finally got a corrected bill in June... I paid half of the $440.00 amount... I kinda waited for them to chase me for the balance but they sent me a "final" bill and I never heard from them again.
Last year I never went into the shop since my shoulder was so bad I couldn't comb my hair much less work on my projects... I had a total replacement done in January... so I didn't have the NG turned on last winter.
Fast forward to yesterday... cold, snowy and blizzard warnings. I had been heating my 1100 sq. ft. workspace with two small electric heaters... 1000 watts each... kept it @ 54F...not bad. But single digits were forecast so I called the gas company... they pulled up my account... no record of ever having me as a customer for my shop! No record of having a meter on my building... no record of my old bill (or balance!)... they knew about my house account but not my garage...
The guy I was talking to was befuddled... he got his super on the line... she asked me if I wanted to set-up an account and have a meter installed. I told her I HAVE a meter... I just want the gas turned on!
Now I will get a call from the service guy in 48-72 hours to have him install a new meter and get back on the line... in the meantime I broke the seal on the meter that doesn't exist and my shop is now a toasty 75F... keeping my snowblower warm for the 12+" of snow that fell overnight.
Two winters back I was on the road a lot... trucking was good and I took advantage of it. I was gone 10-14 days at a time... that, plus the fact that I had a sore shoulder, meant I spent very little time in my shop.
Long story short I invited my neighbor (good friend) to use my shop to mess with his vintage British motorcycles and such... I barely paid attention to the NG bills. Big mistake... seems he kept the t-stat up all of one month and I got a $365.00 bill (IIRC).
The next two month the gas company "averaged" my bill... no one read the meter. So they used the highest bill so I wound up with a NG tab for over $1000.00!!!
I refused to pay until I got an actual bill...by now it was April and they disconnected my service for non-payment..OK. I finally got a corrected bill in June... I paid half of the $440.00 amount... I kinda waited for them to chase me for the balance but they sent me a "final" bill and I never heard from them again.
Last year I never went into the shop since my shoulder was so bad I couldn't comb my hair much less work on my projects... I had a total replacement done in January... so I didn't have the NG turned on last winter.
Fast forward to yesterday... cold, snowy and blizzard warnings. I had been heating my 1100 sq. ft. workspace with two small electric heaters... 1000 watts each... kept it @ 54F...not bad. But single digits were forecast so I called the gas company... they pulled up my account... no record of ever having me as a customer for my shop! No record of having a meter on my building... no record of my old bill (or balance!)... they knew about my house account but not my garage...
The guy I was talking to was befuddled... he got his super on the line... she asked me if I wanted to set-up an account and have a meter installed. I told her I HAVE a meter... I just want the gas turned on!
Now I will get a call from the service guy in 48-72 hours to have him install a new meter and get back on the line... in the meantime I broke the seal on the meter that doesn't exist and my shop is now a toasty 75F... keeping my snowblower warm for the 12+" of snow that fell overnight.
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