Posted on 09/03/2017 7:38:37 PM PDT by Swordmaker
My parent built a second house on their property in Sacramento in 1954 for my grandmother to live in. Pacific Gas & Electric ran a gas line and installed a meter for that second house. They tapped the gas from the main gas line that was at the front house which had my parent's gas meter attached to it. That extra gas line to the second house ran about 80 to 100 feet farther to my grandmother's house.
Sometime in the 1970s the PG&E meter reader got tired of walking that extra 160 to 200 feet to read my Grandmother's meter every month and PG&E elected to MOVE the meter on her house to right next to the meter on my parent's house. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District's electric Meter reader didn't complain. . . the electric meter was about 10 feet farther back from the gas meter on my grand mother's house, and he actually had to go around my parent's house into the back yard by another route to get to the meter on their house to read theirs. Go figure.
In any case, PG&E moved that gas meter so it sat right next to the other gas meter so their meter reader wouldn't have to walk so far, hooked it to their pipe they had originally installed and then ran a connector pipe to jump between the inflow to the outflow gapping where the meter had originally been installed on my grandmother's house. . . all without telling my parents or my grandmother. It was a couple of weeks before anyone noticed. My father noticed when he was mowing and discovered he no longer had to mow around the meter by my grandmother's house and went looking for the meter!
Jump forward 40 years or so. Today the two houses are rental properties I own. One of my tenants calls and says there is a strong odor of gas by the gas meters. I call PG&E to come and check it out. PG&E's technician John shows up on a Sunday and announces that there is a gas leak on the "unauthorized owner installed gas pipe going toward back house" and RED TAGS the meter and shuts off the gas!
I call PG&E asking "WHAT THE HELL?" To which they answer "They have no records of any gas lines authorized to be installed from that address to another address!" and besides, they only will repair gas lines THEY installed up to their meter, and that all leaks "after the meter are the customer's responsibility."
I point out that THEY DID INDEED INSTALL THAT METER and that gas line, and that they, for their own convenience, MOVED IT from it's original location.
"We have no record of that on that property. You are responsible for any repairs to pipes on the customer side of the meter, sir."
"Do you really think I would voluntarily elect to MOVE a meter so that I would be responsible for repairs for 100 feet or so of underground GAS LINE?" I ask.
"Well, you or your parents did, or they must have installed it."
"No, I just told you that PG&E moved it for their convenience, not ours."
"Do you have any paperwork to show that from when it was done?"
"Of course not. PG&E did it on their own. They didn't even tell us they were going to do it."
"Well, you are responsible for fixing it, not us. It's on the customer side of the meter."
"PG&E installed this gas pipe and PG&E moved the meter for THEIR convenience not ours. Why would I accept responsibility for thousands of dollars of potential expenses for PG&E's convenience?"
"Well, you must have."
"Let me talk to a supervisor."
"I am a supervisor. You can't talk to anyone over me who will tell you anything different. You have to fix it. You can make a claim against PG&E if you like. Oh, and you'll have to get the city to inspect it before we can turn it on, because that pipe was never authorized to be there."
"It WAS put there by PG&E and inspected when the house was built in 1954. Not according to our records. That meter is for an apartment in the front house."
"There is NO apartment in the front house!" It's a three bedroom, two bath 960 square foot house, no apartment. It has a separate ADDRESS from the house in the back. We've been receiving TWO PG&E bills from these two houses for 35 years. I did until they were rented to TWO DIFFERENT TENANTS. They've been paying two different bills!
"Oh. Uh, what are the addresses?"
I give him the addresses.
"Well, it's been red tagged. You've got to fix it, get it inspected. Only then can we turn the gas back on. I'll give you the phone number of our office you need to talk to about getting an OK to be reimbursed, but I doubt they'll do it. They're not open until Tuesday."
"So my tenants are going to be without gas until someone can pull a permit. Why do we need a permit to do a repair?"
"Because it's not an authorized gas line."
"The house was fully permitted and inspected with an AUTHORIZED GAS LINE installed by PG&E in 1954 and YOUR COMPANY MOVED THE METER! Repairs should not require a GOD DAMN PERMIT!"
"Replacing an unauthorized gas line does!"
"It was NOT an unauthorized gas line. How many times do I have to tell you, PG&E installed that gas line and PG&E moved the blanking meter????"
"We have no records of that."
"How far do your records go back?"
"I have no idea."
AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Two words: San Bruno.
Call the local TV stations and newspapers. They ought to be delighted to cover this kind of timelessness.
Tell them (or your attorney) their meter readers and billing system have recognized the moved meter for decades. They wouldn’t if you or your parents had installed without authorization.
Hope You at least feel a Little better.
I’m thinking go Propane Tank?
Remember Abbott and Costello?
Who’s on First!
Document everything and lawyer up.
Do what you need to do, and in the meantime get a lawyer and sue the bastards.
This is why we find people on top of over passes with sniper rifles. When someone tells you no there always has to be higher appeal, supervisor or not. I worked in the headquarters of a mid sized state depart. i hired trainers from the field and told them their job is to find someone who has the authoiorty to say yes because every asshole can say no.
Good luck-—former sacramentan
if they don’t have a record ask for rebate on bill payments.
For whatever it’s worth, it’s the law in NJ also that the gas company is responsible for pipes and equipment up to and including the meter - after that it’s up to the homeowner to maintain and repair additional pipes and equipment - I regularly get ads from some company wanting me to buy insurance to pay for any repairs needed on gas equipment after the meter - I regularly tear them up....
I know PG&E had one record in the ‘70’s ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8jhRuZhkRI
It would cost a fair amount of money to move a meter and your parents wouldn’t have had any reason to do it. I would imagine that it would not be difficult to tell from the condition of the gas line piping that this was done a long time ago. Maybe you have some old pictures of the house where the meters can be seen?
Correct.
As a former meter reader in the 1980s it was one of my duties to report any irregularities. Example: I had people fully enclose a meter inside of an addition between monthly reads and I had to report it. Moving a meter around as described in the OP should have triggered such a report. The fact that it apparently didn’t goes strongly to the fact that PG & E did it.
I like the local tv news route. If you do lawyer up, keep in mind that the gas company surely has some records on the meter - likely they have replaced it some time in the last 30 years.
Geez, that’ll cost a fair amount to get straightened out, talking about $20K. I honestly see no way you can show that PG&E did the work. You may be forced to go propane.
Visit your local inspection division office and see if they have any recorders regarding a permit on moving the meter back when you claim the meter was moved. Note who pulled the permit.
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