Discontinuing Union Gas service for summer to avoid $19 monthly charge?
Some Guy
resuming it again in October / November at a location that only uses
natural gas for a furnace.
The monthly charges for simply having natural gas service is currently
$19 (this is small commercial, not residential). When added up for all
12 months, this amount is equivalent to a what we pay in total for the
average gas bill.
I'm going to look into this today, but was wondering if anyone has had
any experience doing this - what sort of hassles you experienced with
Union gas, extra or hidden charges, etc.
DevilsPGD
claimed to have wrote:
Is your natural gas delivered via internet?
Some Guy
> I'm thinking of discontinuing Union Gas service starting now, and
> resuming it again in October / November at a location that only
> uses natural gas for a furnace.
Union Gas will do something called:
- Temporary seal - Turn off (Seasonal) - $22
- Temporary seal - Turn on (Seasonal) - $38
With tax, that comes to about $64.
When I look at the last few years of bills, looking for just the months
I was charged the minimum monthly charge, I see this:
2005: 3 months (July, Aug, Sept) - $14.98/month
2006: 3 months (July, Aug, Sept) - $14.84/month
2007: 4 months (July, Aug, Sept, Oct) - $16.96/month
2008: 3 months (July, Aug, Sept) - $17.85/month
2009: 5 months (July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov) - $18.90/month
For 2010, the basic monthly charge is $19 ($19.95 including gst) and
when the hst is applied this would be $21.47. Three months of basic
charges ($64.41) would be equivalent to the cost to perform a seasonal
turn-off and turn-on.
The one thing that puts me off a little about this is that they say that
they'd come in and re-light the pilot light when they turn on the gas
(or to otherwise make sure that there's no problem inside the premises
when the gas starts flowing). Sort of like an inspection. I just don't
want them to look at my 30 year old furnace and find some trumped up
problem with it.
I've turned the gas off at the furnace for about the past 3 weeks (had
to turn it on last night - the temp inside the building got to about 62f
on sunday night) and I don't think I'm going to need any more gas this
summer.
Even if I save $20, it's the principle that counts. This basic monthly
charge by Union Gas is bullshit. What it's for is not explained. It's
a hidden tax and more people should complain about it. For 2 or 3
months out of the year, what I pay just for the gas is less than this
god dam basic charge.
If I could, I'd store some natural gas in a low-pressure tank and use
that for 2 or 3 months of the year, further extending the seasonal
turn-off period.
chuckcar
> Some Guy wrote:
>
> I've turned the gas off at the furnace for about the past 3 weeks (had
> to turn it on last night - the temp inside the building got to about
> 62f on sunday night) and I don't think I'm going to need any more gas
> this summer.
>
Remind me never to rent from you. 62 degrees? are you kidding? That's
below property standard regulations.
--
(setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )
Some Guy
> > I've turned the gas off at the furnace for about the past 3
> > weeks (had to turn it on last night - the temp inside the
> > building got to about 62f on sunday night) and I don't think
> > I'm going to need any more gas this summer.
>
> Remind me never to rent from you. 62 degrees? are you kidding?
> That's below property standard regulations.
That's in a small commercial office building.
On a Sunday night.
When nobody is in the building.
For the entire weekend.
And did you miss the point about Union Gas charging $19 / month for
basically nothing?
At least Bell / Rogers doesn't have a bogus "basic" monthly fee like
this. They'd never be able to get away with it.
Some Guy
> > I'm thinking of discontinuing Union Gas service starting now,
> > and resuming it again in October / November at a location that
> > only uses natural gas for a furnace.
>
> Is your natural gas delivered via internet?
It's a resource delivered via a network. It is brought through a pipe
at a demarcation point into my premises. It is charged with a
usage-based billing scheme, with an additional $19/month bogus "basic"
charge that has been increasing at a rate that far exceeds inflation,
and should be brought to public attention and scrutiny - if not totally
eliminated.
DevilsPGD
claimed to have wrote:
Sure. But what does any of that have to do with can.internet.highspeed?
There are plenty of causes out there that "should be brought to public
attention and scrutiny", so many in fact that posting them all to one
newsgroup simply isn't practical.
Paul
Are you sure the building doesn't have gas-fired hot water ?
That would be a reason to leave the gas turned on.
Paul
Some Guy
> Are you sure the building doesn't have gas-fired hot water ?
> That would be a reason to leave the gas turned on.
The building was built in 1981 (when natural gas was dirt cheap) and it
had a family-sized natural gas water heater in the utility / furnace
room. When we bought the building 5 years ago, the water heater was not
functional (it was partially dissassembled). But it was being rented
from Union Gas and a monthly "rental" fee was being charged for it. One
of the first things I did was return the water heater (as-is) and get
the rental cancelled.
I replaced the defunct gas water heater with a 40-year-old Lochinvar
electric water heater (5 gallon capacity - never used, 120 VAC,
insulated, glass-lined). Perfectly fine for a small office with dish
washer. The Lochinvar was going to be used by my dad for his 35 ft
cabin cruiser, but he never got around to installing it.
Some Guy
> > ... with an additional $19/month bogus "basic" charge that has
> > been increasing at a rate that far exceeds inflation, and should
> > be brought to public attention and scrutiny - if not totally
> > eliminated.
>
> Sure. But what does any of that have to do with can.internet.
> highspeed?
The less I (or anyone else) gets ripped off by Union Gas with this bogus
$19 basic monthy charge, the more I can spend on my broadband connection
or my data network infrastructure.
> There are plenty of causes out there that "should be brought to
> public attention and scrutiny", so many in fact that posting them
> all to one newsgroup simply isn't practical.
You're right - but we have to start somewhere.
Tony
in that thimble-sized atrocity of a city known as Ottawa.
chuckcar wrote:
--
The Grandmaster of the CyberFROG
Come get your ticket to CyberFROG city
Nay, Art thou decideth playeth ye simpleton games. *Some* of us know proper
manners
Very few. I used to take calls from *rank* noobs but got fired the first day
on the job for potty mouth,
Hamster isn't a newsreader it's a mistake!
El-Gonzo Jackson FROGS both me and Chuckcar
Master Juba was a black man imitating a white man imitating a black man
Using my technical prowess and computer abilities to answer questions beyond
the realm of understandability
Regards Tony... Making usenet better for everyone everyday
Some Guy
> On Monday, 10 May 2010 10:01:16 UTC-4, Some Guy wrote:
(yes, I wrote that 2 years ago)
> > I'm thinking of discontinuing Union Gas service starting now,
> > and resuming it again in October / November at a location that
> > only uses natural gas for a furnace.
> case) is for 'administration'and maintenance of gas lines/meter
> reading/ billing/customer support/24 hour emergency system. Nothing
> we can do about it.
Well, at the time I did look into it.
You can discontinue gas service and I think it will cost you $60 to end
and then re-start the service.
So if you're not going to be using gas for at least 4 months, then you
will be further ahead to do this and save $21 a month.
I thought that this year would have been perfect - given the warm (even
hot) march weather we had here in SW-Ontario. But in April it got cold
enough to need the furnace - that was a bummer.