It’s Cold In Here
by ChrisFebruary 28th, 2006 1:12 am
Sometime Thursday morning, the Philadelphia Gas Works shut off the gas to my apartment. This wasn’t due to non payment on my part, but rather, by PGW’s own admission, an error. Somebody moved out of an apartment in my building and cancelled their gas. Rather than shutting off the gas to the proper unit, PGW shut off the gas in mine.
My wife spent a few long hours on Friday afternoon standing in line at the PGW billing center at 11th and Chestnut, trying to get the gas turned on. Apparently these things can’t be done over the phone if you get the wrong call center operator (your results may vary). She was quite successful on paper. PGW Agreed to send a technician out on Saturday to do what needed to be done, and he did indeed arrive. Sadly, the meter number on his work order didn’t match the only meter in the building that was shut off and he refused to turn on the gas until he could get it sorted out. Unfortunately, the people with the power to sort these things out don’t work on Saturdays. Nobody works on Sunday, but he promised to get somebody out on Monday. A little over half an hour ago, Monday ended. Needless to say, nobody arrived.
Naturally, the last few days have been some of the coldest of this fairly warm winter. Just now, the temperature outside is in the mid-twenties and Sunday night the temperature dipped into the teens. My wife and I are young, healthy and employed, so this isn’t really much more than a pain in the ass. We have an electric heater and a fireplace and have managed to keep the temperature in the apartment hovering in the upper fifties. If worse came to worse and this situation lasts, we can get a hotel room.
Most people who lose their heat mid-winter are not in my situation; it’s much more dangerous than just a pain in the ass. When it first became clear that this was going to be more than a few hour event, my wife wondered what would happen to a couple with an infant who don’t have the means to get out and get somewhere warm. A good question. Other questions naturally involve what happens to the elderly and others who’s immune systems are not so robust when faced with a similar situation. Nothing good, I’d imagine. It is now perfectly legal for utilities to cut service mid-winter in Pennsylvania, so some very dead answers to these questions are likely available, or will be soon.
Anyway, I’ll be busy for a bit so have a nice Tuesday.
Update: A fairly unpleasant gentleman at the PGW call center promised me, on Tuesday morning, that a technician would be sent out Tuesday night to turn on the gas. Tuesday is gone and nobody ever arrived. We’re probably moving in November, and at this point I’m almost inclinded to give up on ever getting service in my appartment. Our water heater and stove are both electric, so it’s not really a huge deal. Just a bit chilly is all.
February 28th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
that’s absolutely insane. However, I will note that I use just electric heaters in my house in Ftown. I gave up on the steam heat the first winter. I actually manage to keep it fairly warm in here (which I’m defining warm to mean around 60ish). And it turns out, their waaay cheaper than PGW.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Went thru spells of this as a kid (mom was fiscally challenged) - the priorities in the way of utilities were 1-elec, 2-water, 3-gas, and 4-phone. Let me tell you - microwaving bath water is NO FUN! We actually had a couple of electric shutoffs too, but my mom usually found a way to turn them around quickly.
March 1st, 2006 at 9:39 am
That is really outrageous. You can’t do without heat until November. There must be a city agency where you can file a complaint. And have Dad write one of his angry-lawyer letters. Please don’t just give up and resign yourself to living in the cold!
March 1st, 2006 at 11:09 am
I know. I won’t give up. There are lots of people to complain to since it’s a city owned utility.
March 1st, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Jesus, this sucks. Hope it gets fixed asap.
March 3rd, 2006 at 4:18 pm
We’re currently involved in a battle with PGW (that I would like to blog about soon) over gas bills for the apartment we haven’t lived in since last May, all because of PGW’s incompetence. I called the Pennsylvania Utility Commission about the situation, and they were very understanding and sympathetic. The man on the phone took all my information and assigned an investigator to look into it. If you want to file a complaint about PGW, the PUC is the group to call.
March 3rd, 2006 at 5:08 pm
Thanks Andrea. I probably will wind up contacting PUC once I’m a little clearer on all of the ways PGW has screwed up my life. Best of luck with your complaint.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:51 pm
I understand the situation so well because, I have a story too.
PGW came to our apartment on Tuesday and turned off the heating due to an emergency. They refused to turn the gas on until the landlord had fixed the issue (which is understandable) and left us in the cold. After one sad cold night we called the landlord who immediately came and fixed the situation and tried to get PGW to come and turn the heating on. They refused. There were no available people that day. So we had another sad cold day and a night. The next day PGW came at 8am and left without turning on the heat. The reason was because the landlord had not completely fixed the situation. I saw the information PGW had provided the landlord and I saw that he fixed everything that was recommended by PGW. But the technician who came on Thursday had a different focus and ideas and left without turning on the gas. When we called PGW to find out why the gas has not been turned on, we were told about this situation. But the customer service representative promised to send another technician by 1pm, but 5pm came and still there was no one. I complained to PGW mainly because I am down with a bad case of flu and cold. But unfortunately I was directed to one of those “wrong call center peopleâ€, who when complained about my situation said “I don’t care. It’s not me at your place”. I directed my complaint towards a supervisor who was more unpleasant than the customer rep, refused to deal with this situation at all. So I am in for a very cold night again, since I don’t have an electric heater or a fireplace.
September 30th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Sorry to say, but it’s not that big of a deal. I’m about 14 and the heat is never turned on in my house. I mean never. Even when it goes to 40. And it’ not because my parents are poor, they’re middle class. I mean yeah, losing heat does suck but think how much worse it could be. Right now i’m gonna go run or something cause i can’t feel my feet.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I have never had to deal with such rude people as you do with PGW. I hope we get a new mayor that has a customer service focus!