On Mon, 10 Oct 2016 06:27:05 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I think tampering refers to trying to bypass or defeat the meter.
Turning the gas off for safety would not be tampering.
m

That's how I see it too. Turning the gas off is just a common thing to
do for any kind of repairs, or when a home is vacant for any length of
time. I bet a lot of people shut off their gas as that recent hurricane
was approaching, and that is a good idea. The last thing they need, are
fires and gas explosions on top of storm damage.

I have propane for heating, and during the summer I shut the valve off
at the tank. The reason being that I have heard about floods washing
away tanks, and if the valve is turned ON, once the pipe breaks off,
there is gas spewing into the air. I'm not in a flood prone area, but
summer can bring tornados and other storms that could affect my
property. It's rare, but why keep the gas turned on, when I'm not using
it. (It's only use is for the furnace).

And I actually witnessed this occur, only about 4 miles from here,
around 3 years ago. We had a bad storm that brought straight line winds.
That type of wind can do a lot of damage, which can be almost as
damaging as tornados. I lost a few trees from that storm, but a farm, 4
miles away had several portable cattle sheds. Because these sheds are
open on one side, they were lifted by the wind. After the storm, one of
these sheds was upside down on it's edge, leaning against their barn.
Another was on top of their car, and another crashed into their propane
tank, knocking it off it's base and rolling it several feet. Of course
the copper gas line broke off, and since the valve was turned ON, it was
spewing gas, which left a strong gas odor around the whole area.

The fire dept. closed off the whole area until all gas odor was gone.
From what I heard, the tank was laying on the valve, so they could not
just shut it off, and those tanks are very heavy, so it can not be moved
by human hands. Of course any vehicle could ignite the gas, so all they
could do it let it empty itself. The main road in the area, near that
farm was shut down for many hours. Fortunately there was no fire, but
they lost all their gas, on top of all the other storm damages.