ATCO Meter Moves

[gasman]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

ATCO does hundreds of meter replacements every year, do you seriously think that yours is the one that will increase distribution charges and by being a stick in the mud, you're doing everyone some huge favor in keeping costs down?

If they take you to court in order to access their equipment, do you plan to pay for a lawyer to fight it?

My beef is precisely that they do hundreds of meter replacements a year in what are basically make work projects.

I am not taking this to court, never said I would. In the end I am not going to block them from doing the work. I'm frustrated that they are doing the work, not stupid.

The guy came yesterday and sketched up the plans which include a 6'x6' hole in my back yard and ripping up 1/3 of my deck. They will replace it when the leave with backfill and seed, and put the deck back together. But there is no doubt it will disrupt the use of my backyard for a few weeks at least. Since seeing some comments on here I will probably put some pressure on to have them to Horizontally drill from the alley to limit the disruption.

It really surprises me that there isn't a single person that is also concerned with the blank cheque utilities get to write every year on your behalf. I guess we are all so desensitized to other people wasting our money that were all okay with it now.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by gasman

My beef is precisely that they do hundreds of meter replacements a year in what are basically make work projects.

I am not taking this to court, never said I would. In the end I am not going to block them from doing the work. I'm frustrated that they are doing the work, not stupid.

The guy came yesterday and sketched up the plans which include a 6'x6' hole in my back yard and ripping up 1/3 of my deck. They will replace it when the leave with backfill and seed, and put the deck back together. But there is no doubt it will disrupt the use of my backyard for a few weeks at least. Since seeing some comments on here I will probably put some pressure on to have them to Horizontally drill from the alley to limit the disruption.

It really surprises me that there isn't a single person that is also concerned with the blank cheque utilities get to write every year on your behalf. I guess we are all so desensitized to other people wasting our money that were all okay with it now.

The meter replacements that I'm talking about are the government mandated ones. Relocations might just be for the utility's convenience (and yours if your meter is selected for replacement down the road), but the replacement program is required by Measurement Canada.

I thought you were concerned with giving the utility a lot of money in fees? Why would you want them to do the work at your house in a method that costs more that normal?

[InglewoodFan]

Not 100% sure on this, but it could be a safety issue that is causing them to want to relocate the meter outdoors. The regulator can vent a small amount of gas when the line pressure changes so perhaps they want to mitigate an admittedly small risk.

[bizaro86]

I think it's ridiculous that they have a blank cheque to all of our utility bills, and agree they do make work projects all the time. I think this is more likely now that poorly thought out power line expansions at the consumers cost are slowing down, so they'll want to keep their rate base growing somehow.

[ken0042]

I guess I would also say that there is no way it is safer being indoors than outside. The difference being that by getting everybody up to code a few meters at a time we don't end up in a situation where there is a massive safety issue at some point down the road.

Like IF said, an outdoor meter can vent gas in a relief manor as needed. And trust me, I know that if you have to vent gas, it's better for everybody if you can do so outside.

Kidding aside, many people with older houses are bringing them up to code for other things, so our houses are much more air-tight than they would have been in 1967. So even a small amount of gas expelled indoors can linger long enough to become an issue.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

Not 100% sure on this, but it could be a safety issue that is causing them to want to relocate the meter outdoors. The regulator can vent a small amount of gas when the line pressure changes so perhaps they want to mitigate an admittedly small risk.

The regulator vent is piped outside, it for sure does not vent inside my house, That would definately be a safety issue.

As for ||Whiteout|| I am concerned about them wasting my money and as a solution would propose that they don't go out and move a bunch of meters that they don't have to move.

If I have no choice but to have my meter moved, then they are darn well going to put it in a location and using a technique that disrupts my life as little as possible.

If your making me pay for lightbulbs I am going to get lightbulbs...

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by gasman

The regulator vent is piped outside, it for sure does not vent inside my house, That would definately be a safety issue.

As for ||Whiteout|| I am concerned about them wasting my money and as a solution would propose that they don't go out and move a bunch of meters that they don't have to move.

If I have no choice but to have my meter moved, then they are darn well going to put it in a location and using a technique that disrupts my life as little as possible.

If your making me pay for lightbulbs I am going to get lightbulbs...

They will do that, so what are you going on about?

[Madman]

If there were a gas leak or fire at your house, how would the Fire Department turn off the gas supply to your house currently?

[Engine09]

They relocated my meter late last winter.

I was actually just about to frame in that corner of the room to enclose the meter in a little closet. I would have been absolutely furious if they called 2 weeks later.

In the end it worked out well, I got to save time and space not framing/drywalling around the meter. Outside they poured new concrete in a 2' x 4' area and installed posts and painted them. Looks fine.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Sliver

They will do that, so what are you going on about?

Because ||Whiteout|| asked why I would have them do a more expensive routing if I was so concerned about how much money they were spending.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Madman

If there were a gas leak or fire at your house, how would the Fire Department turn off the gas supply to your house currently?

If I were them I would use the shutoff valve that is located outside...

[Madman]

See, and that's why you're the gasman and I'm not.

Thought they were all together.

[Violator]

After working on those meters a few years ago they really put them in some strange areas of the house and in the yards.Just be happy you didn't have to pay for it cause I remember people requesting meter relocations and it was a couple thousand dollars.