turquoisesky
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado
Last year, my husband and I cancelled the natural gas service to the property we rent (with the landlords full knowledge and permission) and switched the residence back to propane. We are both gas service technicians and operate a small business fixing propane appliances. We cancelled the service because the nat. gas company:
1)Refused to change the account to our names, so we never saw any statements, neither did the landlord.
2)The gas company charged exhorbitantly high bills ~ $350/month and we never had any way to verify that they were reading the correct meter, correct # of therms, etc. We primarily burn wood for heat, so our propane use since has been less than $50/month. Being "in the business" we know that the two fuels are comparable and should cost roughly the same.
We reported the nat. gas company to the Public Utilities Comission and thought we were done.
At the beginning of May, a nat. gas rep came to our door claiming we were delinquent in our bill, and he was there to shut off our gas, unless we made payment immediately!! I walked him to the back of our property and showed him we were on propane and there was his standpipe (clearly visible) untouched and unconnected. He left me with the paperwork saying we were delinquent so I could call and tell them we weren't customers. I did the next day. (We were paid in full from before). Done? No....
Two weeks after, another rep. from the company comes to the back of the house without coming to the front door. My husband and I went out to ask him what the heck he was doing, and the man said he didn't have to tell us anything, he was going to enter our backyard, through us or not. and starts tearing down the fence to gain entrance to the backyard. The unlocked gate was 2 feet away. We looked around and there was a natural gas meter propped up (unattached to anything) against the back of our house! My husband handed the thing to the man, and asked him to leave, as he was being unnecessarily destructive. The man put the meter in the back of his truck and called the police, still without saying anything to us that was informative.
While waiting for the police to show up, ( 5 min), we shut off the propane since this guy had damaged the gas line and there was a serious leak, with this guy running his truck 4ft
away.
The police took a statement from the nat. gas guy and my husband (but refused to talk to me). My husband was issued a summons for "tampering with a utility meter"!
We have no idea how this thing got there. It was not there the night before, when someone opened the gate and let my dogs out, cutting one up badly. (Yes, we filed a police report on the incident, but they never looked in the back yard!)
Coincidently, the place the meter supposedly came from was the neighbors property behind us. They owe this company $590 for unpaid gas service, yet the company left the meter on their house for 11 months! Apparently, the company can detect when a meter is being used, and determined that this meter was in use for a week before they "found" us. In addition to the summons, we are being charged by this company for $200 in gas and $390 in "labor" for their representative to challenge and attack our property.
By the way, as propane professionals, if we really had wanted to steal their gas, we could have picked up a regulator for natural gas which looks just like a propane regulator. You don't need a HUGE obvious meter to do this. We also showed the police officer that the propane was hooked up and functional when he arrived, and that there was a significant leak created by this guy.
So what are our options? I wanted to file a complaint against this guy for damage and harassment, but the police said no way - the law allows him to come onto our property any time to "inspect" his equipment (true) - but does it allow him to damage the property and threaten us? My husband and I never touched him - we just kept backing away whenever he came at us (he's about 6'4"). How do we prove we didn't steal their meter or their gas?
Sorry this was so long. I've looked everywhere and can't find any legal advice similar to this. Thank you so much for any help you may have.
Last year, my husband and I cancelled the natural gas service to the property we rent (with the landlords full knowledge and permission) and switched the residence back to propane. We are both gas service technicians and operate a small business fixing propane appliances. We cancelled the service because the nat. gas company:
1)Refused to change the account to our names, so we never saw any statements, neither did the landlord.
2)The gas company charged exhorbitantly high bills ~ $350/month and we never had any way to verify that they were reading the correct meter, correct # of therms, etc. We primarily burn wood for heat, so our propane use since has been less than $50/month. Being "in the business" we know that the two fuels are comparable and should cost roughly the same.
We reported the nat. gas company to the Public Utilities Comission and thought we were done.
At the beginning of May, a nat. gas rep came to our door claiming we were delinquent in our bill, and he was there to shut off our gas, unless we made payment immediately!! I walked him to the back of our property and showed him we were on propane and there was his standpipe (clearly visible) untouched and unconnected. He left me with the paperwork saying we were delinquent so I could call and tell them we weren't customers. I did the next day. (We were paid in full from before). Done? No....
Two weeks after, another rep. from the company comes to the back of the house without coming to the front door. My husband and I went out to ask him what the heck he was doing, and the man said he didn't have to tell us anything, he was going to enter our backyard, through us or not. and starts tearing down the fence to gain entrance to the backyard. The unlocked gate was 2 feet away. We looked around and there was a natural gas meter propped up (unattached to anything) against the back of our house! My husband handed the thing to the man, and asked him to leave, as he was being unnecessarily destructive. The man put the meter in the back of his truck and called the police, still without saying anything to us that was informative.
While waiting for the police to show up, ( 5 min), we shut off the propane since this guy had damaged the gas line and there was a serious leak, with this guy running his truck 4ft
away.
The police took a statement from the nat. gas guy and my husband (but refused to talk to me). My husband was issued a summons for "tampering with a utility meter"!
We have no idea how this thing got there. It was not there the night before, when someone opened the gate and let my dogs out, cutting one up badly. (Yes, we filed a police report on the incident, but they never looked in the back yard!)
Coincidently, the place the meter supposedly came from was the neighbors property behind us. They owe this company $590 for unpaid gas service, yet the company left the meter on their house for 11 months! Apparently, the company can detect when a meter is being used, and determined that this meter was in use for a week before they "found" us. In addition to the summons, we are being charged by this company for $200 in gas and $390 in "labor" for their representative to challenge and attack our property.
By the way, as propane professionals, if we really had wanted to steal their gas, we could have picked up a regulator for natural gas which looks just like a propane regulator. You don't need a HUGE obvious meter to do this. We also showed the police officer that the propane was hooked up and functional when he arrived, and that there was a significant leak created by this guy.
So what are our options? I wanted to file a complaint against this guy for damage and harassment, but the police said no way - the law allows him to come onto our property any time to "inspect" his equipment (true) - but does it allow him to damage the property and threaten us? My husband and I never touched him - we just kept backing away whenever he came at us (he's about 6'4"). How do we prove we didn't steal their meter or their gas?
Sorry this was so long. I've looked everywhere and can't find any legal advice similar to this. Thank you so much for any help you may have.