Philadelphia gas company digging up delinquent customers' gas lines

[Judi Lynn]

Philadelphia gas company digging up delinquent customers' gas lines
By Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press, 8/7/2003 04:14

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Philadelphia Gas Works has been warning delinquent customers for months to pay their overdue gas bills or else.

The utility apparently meant business.

Jeannette Stein found that out Wednesday when a PGW work crew dug up the pipeline in front of her row house and disconnected it from the gas main. That means Stein, who owes $1,500 to the gas company, won't be able to use her stove or take a hot shower until she pays her bill and hundreds of dollars extra to get PGW to restore service.

''I'm not proud about it,'' said Stein, 44, who works in rubber manufacturing but recently ran into financial difficulties. She said she plans to pay the bill once her income tax refund check arrives.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/219/nation/Philadelphia_gas_company_diggi:.shtml

[zizzer]

1. ignore this..this is a test

blah.

[salin]

2. Can't they just turn it off?

Is this the only way to turn off the gas?

[MiltonLeBerle]

3. There's something about it that seems so utterly-

Republican.

[Atlant]

4. The meter and the gas cock are probably inside her house.

Here in suburban New England, they just walk up to the
side of your house, turn the gas cock, and padlock it "OFF".
No fuss, no muss, no dust.

Atlant

[Mandate My Ass]

5. PGW has been wracked with corruption

for decades. Nothing much happened to the execs who skimmed $$$ out of the public coffers which resulted in Phila. charging some of the highest gas rates in the country. But some poor schmuck who fell behind in his bills can freeze this winter. :mad:

[LibInternationalist]

6. It does seem a bit extreme...

... but so does $1500 in overdue bills, to be honest

[Heddi]

8. when bills get behind, it's hard to catch up

My mom was a single parent, and worked 3 jobs for most of my life. I'm her only child.

Many, many times in my childhood, mom had to decide whether to pay the light bill or the water bill---water bill always took precidence b/c you can't live without a shower or a toilet or clean hands.

Many weeks at a time were spent in a dark house b/c the electricity was cut off.

It can be very difficult, especially in these desperate economic times, to keep up with bills---I know it was back then when I was young (late 80's early 90's).

What made it worse, was that every time the bill was late, a "late fee" was added----not too much, but enough to keep paying the bill in full just out of reach.

SO whenever they *DID* disconnect the power or water, we'd not only have to come up with the balance in full, but also another $150 to have it reconnected (they've since lowered the fee to $75).

We had no cable (ever), and no phone, and no fancy things. Her car was 10 years old at the time and a real peice of junk.

$1500 in bills is extreme, but it's not rare and it's becoming far too common in these days of massive layoffs, ending UI benefits, etc.

[tom_paine]

7. Agreed, Monica

But isn't that the customary fashion for Imperial Amerika, and, to be truthful, the Old Republic to a lesser degree, as well?

[Atlant]

9. There may be a "winter protection" clause...

> But some poor schmuck who fell behind in his bills can freeze this winter.

There may be a "winter protection" clause in the utility tariffs, so
I don't think you can conclude that she'll freeze this winter.

(Here in NH, we definitely have such a clause. Neither the gas
utility nor the electric utility can disconnect you during
certain months. I don't know what happens if they disconnect
you during the summer, though.)

I wonder if the utility simply is installing an external shut-off,
so they can "valve" her on and off as her bill status warrants?

Atlant

[SaintLouisBlues]

13. It is that time of year

By shutting off deliquent customers in the summer, the utility companies do not have to worry about any cold weather clauses, which apply to the disconnects and not re-connects. At least in my Berg that's the case.

[PurityOfEssence]

10. The only U.S. city that ever bombed its citizens from the air

Brotherly love?

[rocktivity]

11. Hey, maybe THAT'S what triggered the blackout

A shovel hit the wrong cable and pfffffffttttt--clear up to Canada!

rocknation

[Atlant]

12. You have heard of "Backhoe Outages" of the Internet and Telephone networks

You have heard of "Backhoe Outages" of the Internet and Telephone
networks, right?

And the really cool part is that, whereas in the past, on a
really bad day, a backhoe might break a cable carrying hundreds
or maybe thousands of simultaneous phone conversations, now,
thanks to the Miracle of Technology (TM), that very same backhoe
can break a much smaller cable full of fiber optics that's
carrying (literally!) MILLIONS of phone conversations.

Atlant