dpasek,
I don't know about purging. I do know that they will come into the house to check your appliances after turn on, will wait while you relight pilots, elderly who can't bend down to relight, the tech is supposed to light at a 40 buck charge.
Electronic or spark ignition, they just say you're good to go and leave.
Hard to believe "hot swap", with gas lines. I don't disbelieve you, just don't know how they can do it. Possibly the same as the water meter they added an external digital readout to in my basement, added a dial with an encoder in place of the old meter dial.
I agree with Rudd. You pay the bill, your service should be turned on. I don't know if his gas was turned off or it is new service. Immaterial. They will sell more gas in those 4 or 5 days, bill will be higher at the end of the month.
BUT, they seem to have gotten some bill passed allowing them to take 3 "business days" to turn on service.
My daughter's electric was turned off, she called me before the battery on her internet phone died, I went over and she used my cell phone to pay the bill with my credit card. They accepted payment and told her it would take 3 days to turn on the power. My kid and her family, my grandkids included, had to stay at my house for 3 nights. That bothered me not at all, they're mine.
I am, however, pissed with the utilities in general. My own power was cut a number of years ago while I was at work on 4 to 12. Called them to complain. They told me they had received my payment at 2 or so in the afternoon, would charge me an "after hours" fee to reconnect, 75 bucks or something like that.
Paid it, guy came out to reconnect, friend of mine, when I was installing panels and doing rewiring, his was the truck to pull the meter so I could change over, would call in before end of shift to find if I had called for reconnect so he could get to me before he knocked off.
Sometimes had problems with the independent inspector getting there to check and sign off, so couldn't call in. If I hadn't called in, he would drive by on the way home,(took his truck home) and if the inspector was on the way, would hang around and BS till he left, would reconnect.
Innyhoo, came up to talk to me, told me the power was cut off at 4:12 in the afternoon. Couple hours after they acknowledged they were in receipt of my payment. BFD, we shut it off, even if the payment was made before it was, and you paid to have it turned back on and screw you.
This pisses me off, but it doesn't affect my health or well being. BUT, they will do the same to older people who maybe cannot do without power, disclaimer on the shutoff notice notwithstanding, if you have a Doctor certify that loss of power would harm your health they will not, etc.
All of them are "just another energy company" and screw you, just as the oil companies are doing today.
Look here, at my today's paper:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/business/s_563204.html
Pay attention to this paragraph:
"Thirdly, refinery capacity continues to average well below 84 percent, and has been since January, as refiners artificially hold down refined product to increase the price," Moors said.
That one makes me cheer the Arabs who want to refine their own product and send us just the gas and Diesel, although that will raise the price of tar and Sulphur and all the more volatile hydrocarbons that the US refineries make possibly even more money from than from gas and Diesel.
THEY wind up with all the tar to sell or dispose of in other ways.
Which way would you say it would go if them million barrel boats were carrying just gasoline, or just Diesel, instead of crude that has to be distilled, at US prices, into those products?
Price would go up or price would go down?
Look to Venezuela and Citgo. I think Chavez has offered reduced price oil to some of the people most affected by heating oil cost, North East, for example, and even in Alaska, and some there said they would rather pay 10 bucks a gallon than the subsidized oil from a "Socialist" country like Venezuela.
Oh, well.
Cheers,
George