I received an email from the gas co. this morning.-----They want to know...

C

charlie

Well-known member
why my gas bills are so low.

The missive says, "being that you have a gas furnace, gas logs, gas water heater, and gas burners and oven, your usage should be larger than it is".

First--you don't use your furnace and logs in the summer. The water heater doesn't run as much in summer. The stove burners are used less in summer because people use charcoal grills more often. One doesn't heat the house up with a lot of oven use in summer or make many long cooking braised dishes in summer.

Also, how do they know about what type of gas appliances we own? Are they doing research to find out what we own.

Are they accusing us of somehow altering the meter readings?

Should I be upset--because I am.

 
How weird. I'd ignore it, or send a short email that says

"We strive to keep our energy use low. I'd be happy to discuss any questions by phone." (Even if you're not happy to, it sends the message that there's nothing to hide, and that this should be conducted at a more formal level than email.)

Almost sounds like a phishing email... Is the address legit?

 
This is creepy

Yes, how do they know what appliances you have? And I'd call them and ask WTH is going on...are they complaining you are conserving too much or something? Did they look at your past bills for the same time of year and find a significant change? Don't they have anything better to do?

So I'd call them or I'd turn on my gas logs and burn their letter ... there I used some gas, problem solved!

ETA
Wait...I misread that, it was an email? I'd ignore it or call, and it does almost sound like phishing.

 
charlie, I'll write a response for you, courtesy of Hannibal Lecter

Dear NC Generic Gas Company,

Thank you for your concise and erudite letter questioning my monthly consumption of natural/propane gas. I see from your letter that you somehow have insight into my appliances re: gas furnace, gas logs, gas water heater, and gas burners and oven.

Are you spying on me, Dear NC Generic Gas Company? I am merely curious because your comment that my usage "should be larger than it is" seems a tad invasive. And yet it is easily explained.

I find that irritable, invasive, nosy city employees can be dealt with within a formalize, culinary environment. Said IINCEs are collected, cooked, & consumed to rid the planet of their further annoyance. Most beneficial of all is their remaining remains become a natural heating element, thereby reducing the monthly usage of NC Generic Gas. The aroma is quite...beefy, you might say. If only we could deal with invasive kudzu in as efficient a manner as this.

As a show of good faith, I extend to you, dear IINCE, an invitation to taste my latest epicurian triumph: AT&T Tech Support a la Broche. served in the warm and beefy comfort of my home. I believe dessert will be whomever is fresh and available.

~ Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.
H. Lecter

 
sounds phishy. print it and take it to the office. nah. waste of your time probably. maybe send

it in the mail with a note that this looks like a scam and if it's not, then they need to change their approach or better yet, why do they want you to be a wasteful energy consumer. yeah, they want more $$$$, but this is certainly not what the public wants to hear.

 
Excellent. smileys/wink.gif I would also like to suggest that maybe charlie's gas company is the NSA. smileys/wink.gif

 
I had 2 goofs arrive from the electric co. one afternoon, no appointment, knocking on the

door wanting to inspect our house to see why our hydro bill was suddenly so low.

TWO of them. To do this. No appointment. In the MIDDLE of the day.

I told them that they and their supervisor and the electric co. could have saved a whole lot of time by phoning to see if anything had changed....like the 12 office staff that had just moved out of our basement (which had been converted into a rather large office) a month earlier.

Idiocy!! But yes, yours is creepy.

 
Around here they are warning people that burglers are doing this...

One person distracts you and the other goes around back to check on w/e, but really breaks into your house. Or, they are casing the area to determine who is home during the day.

 
Don't they come read your meter anyway, or has yours become "smart" like ours now?

Maybe they are thinking their reader made a mistake.

 
There is a meter outside--don't know if it's read remotely. Since we are new to the house,

they have no data to reference.

They're welcome to check the meter as long as they don't need access to the house.

 
Out here we had meter readers till they put in new wireless "smart" ones

It was quite an issue as folks thought it gave them headaches/etc. My smart meter looks electronic/digital vs. the old one had dials. Also, we can access ours online to monitor a whole lotta something that I have no interest in monitoring.

 
Did the email include a link to click on? Could be spam. I get supposed notices from UPS, Facebook,

the Better Business Bureau, and various names I don't recognize, all asking me to click on a link. They're getting very sophisticated. I agree with Karen, call the gas company and see if it is from them.

 
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