Gas Meter?

[Chuck Smith]

We got killed on our gas (propane) bill for the winter. Guess it was too cold for them to read the meter, or for whatever reason they didn't read it. They read it on Dec 14th, and the next read was March 5th. In that time frame, keeping the thermostat at 50 - 60° during the day, and at 50° at night got us a nice $1200 bill. Shop is just under 1000sq ft. I complained, they gave us 5 months to pay. The rate was $5.08 a gallon!

So I got the next bill, from 3/5 - 4/5, and guess what? $6.00! Yep. 6 bucks. It was a minimum charge because we used 0.6 gallons. Keep in mind, same heat setting, and we had a plowable snow during that time, I had the garage door open, trucks in and out...

I called and complained again, said they better send someone out to calibrate the meter. The woman assured me it has been calibrated recently. She could not tell me when, and transferred me to the "local" office. Yeah, I was taking to Kansas City...

So I looked at the meter, and the lead seal on the wire says S85. The building was built in 1985.... Calibrated, yeah sure.

Look at the numbers and how they are not aligned. I know where I used to work we had to calibrate the meters every 4 years. Might be time to call County Weights and Measures....

I left 4 messages for the local office to call me, and still no call. A week has gone by... FERRELL GAS in case anyone is interested. :mad: :mad: :mad:

~Chuck

[festerw]

The calibration thing reminds me of my parents. They payed 7.35/month for electric for about a year, because an icicle fell off and hit the meter. My dad called when he realized it was wrong and it still took them about 11 months to come and replace it.

[Fastjohnny]

Chuck, we have Ferrel out here too, they have been good to deal with, but again, all depends who/how local rep/dealer responds.

But 5.08 is crazy isn't it? I just prebought propane for next year, 1200 gal, at 1.39/gal from econogas.


Now, am I confused on natural gas vs propane? Billing differences? Cubic feet vs gallons? Someone enlighten me.

[Ronald Muller]

Chuck,

We have Yankee Propane at home, our last fill up was $2.58/gallon. That is crazy to pay $6.00/gallon. There is a Yankee facility less than a mile down the road from your shop.

[jakegypsum]

Chuck,

I would continue to complain to your gas vendor. I would also refuse to pay any bill they send until they either calibrate or replace that meter.
Make sure that you document every phone call time, date, and the person of whom you talked to until this issue gets resolved.

Jake

[atgreene]

Natural gas is a presurized gas, whereas propane is pressurized to the point where it liquifies, thus delivered in liquidform into your tank. Propane turns to a gas as it is used.

Now to confuse things, why is water by the cubic foot rather than the gallon?

[snow problem]

I have PSE@G and I my bill for december was $12 dollars. I know it was mild buy not that mild so i figured it was a mastake and it was in my favor,so i would just wait till January's bill. Well January's bill came and it to was about $15 Dollars. Last years December bill was about $500 and last years January bill was about $500, so I figured i better call,although i felt strange calling saying that i wasn't being charged enough. When i called, I was told that the gas meter in my basement was not orking properly and that they would be here in a week to fix it. I was also told that i would not have to pay for the gas i really used because they should have noticed the mastake. Well February was the coldest month of the winter here and my gas bill was $750, kinda wish i waited one more month.

[Pickering Snow]

Like we talked on the phone Chuck the 5 bucks a gallon is a rape, the one shop here uses propane pig 250 gallon and i also locked in at 1.75 this past year the worst i ever payed was last year at 2.75 gallon.

The meter has several signs its out of calb. Theres a story to tell here last year during a snow storm we use the same Shell station for Diesel often times all the trucks will go in at the same time , i was tired and grumpy we filled all of the trucks the bill was 856.01 i went in and payed was carrying cash i gave the lady 870 bucks and she starts to give me back 3.99 i said wait a min the dam pumps are not even close on calb you give me back 99cents and wieghts and measurements will be here tomarrow, she did and i did two things one i grabbed a can off the service truck and pumped 2 us gallons i got about 1.75 us gallons went in payed for it again and told her i would make the call which i did, they were fined. end of story. :wink

[CGSI]

Chuck
Someone is ripping you off bad on your propane. I pay $1.68 a gallon here and I am only a few hours north of you. I think you should look for another propane supplier.

[Chuck Smith]

Well here is an update. We had a meeting 2 weeks ago with a new rep they brought in from RI. The guy that was here got fired, and so did the office staff. My meter is going to be changed or calibrated before the heating season, and they are going to paint the tank outside. The rep offered to knock $3.00 off per gallon on the old balances, we agreed. Turns out they billed the landlord for filling the tank, and then again for metered gas consumption :eek: So the day after the meeting I get a bill (I thought) from Ferrell. I opened it up, and it was a credit for $246.00. They waived the balance due, and gave me a credit for the $246 I paid. It was postmarked a day before our meeting with the rep, so I am not sure what happened, but I am happy now. Rep seemed like a nice guy, who is moving to the area with his family. I told him he has a tough road to hoe, as there are Ferrell tanks sitting all over the place with Yankee tanks hooked up to the buildings next to the disconnected Ferrell tanks. He just shook his head. I told him where a couple are. We will also (well the landlord) be gettinga contract to lock in a price for this coming season, which we never got last year. It is amazing the damage one rep can do to a company in a short time if not supervised properly. Oh and it was $5.809 we were paying!

Thanks for brining this back up John, I meant to give this update sooner.

~Chuck