On Apr 13, 7:21*am, ransley wrote:
On Apr 12, 8:09*pm, "Existential Angst"
wrote:





"jeff_wisnia" wrote in message

...

mm wrote:
On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:40:03 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

I was at a party last night and a neighbor who works for a commercial
HVAC company explained his method of ripping off the gas company.

He says that gas is a commodity and therefore is typically cheaper in
the summer than in the winter. In the summer he "over-reads" his meter
by 35 - 40 therms on average, paying for the extra therms at the
cheaper price.

"It's so rare I meet someone who admits right out to being a thief. *I
assume you don't object when public officials steal or others steal
from you or your family."

I'm pretty slow on the uptake, and I might not have thought to say
this, but I think I'll remember next time. *Especially worth saying if
others are there when he said what he did.

I hear your visceral reaction to theft, but..... * * he's stealing from
thieves!!

Yes, I'm prone to speak up when someone starts crowing about how they
cheat on their income taxes. I usually say something like, "You realize
you've just admitted that you're making me and the rest of the honest
citizens pay more than we'd have to if you didn't do that."

Yeah, but he's shortchanging profligate thieves.....
Plus what aem said.

My saying that to someone out loud at a party used to get my (first) wife
angry with me....

See? *She proly agrees with me!

Once the public trust is betrayed, you're expecting a little too much
turning-the-cheek (mebbe 1080 degrees, or more) to ask a betrayed public not
to even the score when they can.

It's just too bad that the even-ing of the score can't be better
coordinated, for true effectiveness.
Sheeple don't coordinate too well, tho.
--
EA

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.

In the winter, he "under-reads" his meter by the same amount, paying
for fewer of the expensive therms.

Since he is sending in his card every month, and he is staying within
"average use" for a homeowner, they only come to read his meter once a
year and it's always near the end of winter when his over-reads and
under-reads have just about cancelled out.

As they ask on Mythbusters - Busted, Confirmed or Plausible?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would not say its stealing, he pays in advance in summer so he is
loaning the utility in summer, *call it Price Averaging - Long Term
Lock In - Buying In Advance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Of course it's stealing. It's the same as going to a store and buying
bolts that are sold loose. You go to the checkout and when they are
regular price, you tell the clerk you have 50, when you really have
70. Then when they are on sale you reverse the process. The net
result is you're not paying the correct price for the product
received. In the case of the gas, if he were caught, they had the
proof and decided to prosecute the charge would be "theft by
deception".

Guess who makes up the difference? The rest of us. But one can only
wonder about a couple of things:

What kind of idiot does this and then goes to a party and talks about
it? Who knows who happens to be there or who they will tell?

How much can the price of gas vary from summer to winter, how much of
a discrepancy and shifting can you get away with so that they don't
become suspicous, etc and still have it make enough savings difference
to amount to anything significant. If he's dishonest enough to pull
that cheat and tell everyone about it, I'd bet he's up to a lot of
other crap too.