"KC" wrote in message
...
On Jun 22, 7:42 am, "Robert Green" wrote:
We got a new gas meter and it is readable remotely (the guy still comes
around, but he waves a device at the meter). Does this imply that there's
a
battery in the new gas meters? Anyone know for sure?

--
Bobby G.

I have one on my electric meter that they read 200 yards away from the
meter. I wonder which side of the meter it's drawing power from?

You wouldn't think the power company would cheat you and make you pay for
your metering? (-:

I can see them stealing power from the incoming line for an electric meter,
but I couldn't understand how the gas company got electrical power out of
the gas line. (-: (mini gas turbine generator?)

I know that some RF systems can read passive foil tags but those are
hardcoded and don't change daily like gas readings. I suppose Google might
shed some light on exactly how remote metering works......Hmm, that turned
out to be less informative than I hoped.

I had an issue where the meter stopped reading and they tried to charge me
for "average use" even though we were away that winter and not using *any*
gas for heating. It took filing a case with the PSC to get them to remove
the charges once we proved the house was indeed unoccupied for the months
they billed us for. They wanted close to $900 for "estimated seasonal use"
compared to the actual draw of about $20 per month when we were away two
winters before that for pilot lights and low idle water heat.

I'm worried they could pull the same trick on anyone at any time just by
pulling the battery from the meter. I assume that doesn't make the gas flow
stop but it may screw up the readings. The company said that it's typical
for old meters to fail in that mode - to just stop reading. They tried to
imply that the meter had been slow and underreporting for years and that I
had been getting a break, but the lack of serious change in our monthly bill
after they put in a new "remote read" meter put the lie to that claim, at
least in this instance.

I suspect that they run all their customer's bills against a computer
program designed to pick up on serious reductions in consumption. I wonder
if they do the reverse - alert you if you're using too much gas. I doubt
it.

Thanks again to all who replied!

--
Bobby G.