utility company read the gas meter wrong this month (and a story about changing electric meter)

[space-time]

got the electric/gas bill, the electric bill is normal, gas bill is very high, even higher than it was in the cold winter last year. it is about 2x than Feb, and 10x more than October. November was a very warm month here, yes we did use the heat, but not that much.

I checked the meter (the dial type) and it shows 3247, company read it as 3339 a few days ago.

Obviously an error, and I expect a credit next month, I am not even going to bother to call them.

On a tangent note, they replaced the electric meter last week (awesome job), and they said they read these remotely, so the guy does nto have to come. Well, it is the same guy who used to read the electric and gas bill at the same time, it is the same company, so that does not really save them that much, but still I agree they should move in the digital age.

And now about the electric meter job: the guy hows up, explains what he has to do and that i lose power for ~30 seconds. I shut down my Mac Minis (even though I have UPS) and told him go ahead.

He opened the panel, pulled the old analog meter out, put the new digital in, power was off for maybe 10 seconds. no wiring, no mess. took him longer to fill in the paperwork than to actually change the meter. Now, I would have been blown away if he came with some jumper cables to put there so that I didn't even lose power, but that it maybe asking too much. Anyway, the power outage was so short that stove and microwave did not lose the time. Only coffeemaker and and older radio clock lost time.

I was impressed on how efficient the process was. The new meter fit 100% in the same footprint as the old one, which was installed 30 years ago. How many other devices from 30 years ago can you upgrade today and still be 100% compatible?

[Speedy]

Now that he is gone, you can install your own jumper cables! But remove them before he comes to replace the 'defective' gas meter.

[Black]

The new meters also make it much easier to turn off the power remotely, as my downstairs tenant recently found.

[Article Accelerator]

space-time wrote: And now about the electric meter job: the guy hows up, explains what he has to do and that i lose power for ~30 seconds. I shut down my Mac Minis (even though I have UPS) and told him go ahead.

My guy shows up (6 years ago), doesn't announce his presence, cuts off the power then restores it 3 minutes later. I was actively working at my computer so I lost what I was working on, and the reconnection surge damaged my VCR.

Fsckers…

[Octave Doctor]

Power Co. here lets you enter correct meter readings if their estimate is off. Good thing, since March's estimate was about $100.00 too high. They corrected the billing in 3-4 days.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

space-time wrote:
The new meter fit 100% in the same footprint as the old one, which was installed 30 years ago. How many other devices from 30 years ago can you upgrade today and still be 100% compatible?

It dang well better fit, they have been making electric meters to fit in that socket for 70 or 80 years. Electric utilities have been upgrading to smart meters starting around 2006.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Article Accelerator wrote:
...and the reconnection surge damaged my VCR.

Unless you have devices in your home that generate a strong reactive current or you have faulty wiring somewere, there should be no reason that plugging in an electrical meter would be any different than plugging in the VCR to the wall socket.

[OWC Jamie]

space-time wrote:
. How many other devices from 30 years ago can you upgrade today and still be 100% compatible?

toast
wife
fork
knife

[Article Accelerator]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
[quote=Article Accelerator]
...and the reconnection surge damaged my VCR.

Unless you have devices in your home that generate a strong reactive current or you have faulty wiring somewere, there should be no reason that plugging in an electrical meter would be any different than plugging in the VCR to the wall socket.
You'd think so but the electrical disturbance caused by reconnection instantly blew the internal fuse in the VCR and permanently damaged an antenna amplifier. Most homes have enough inductive loads to cause issues if all are repowered at once. Ours include the HVAC fan and compressor, freezer, and refrigerator.

By the way, I was mistaken—the work was done in 2007.

[cbelt3]

Standards are great .. Think about light bulb sockets . Screws . Guns ( first example of mass production methods ..)