NICOR's gonna tear up my lawn... wah

[OICU812]

So got the letter about NICOR moving the gas meter outside. They came a couple of days ago and marked out the sidewalk. Now I'm having nightmares of having the inevitable etched lines and random squares of dead sod... wah.. Trying to stay optimistic but I know I'm gonna be one of those people where the sod failed to "take" and I'll be left with dirt. Damn!

well at least all of the crabgrass, clovers and dandelions will be gone.

[Bungalocity]

As long as they don't make the ghetto meter on the parkway like Cicero.
Not to worry, sod can't lose as long as you keep it watered constantly!

May be worth a trip to Schroeder Material in spring rather than the farmers market.
Just make sure the topsoil is perfectly level, may be worth hiring a landscaping crew
from Home Depot parking lot to smooth out the dirt!

[OICU812]

THe letter said that NICOR is supposed to re-landscape it all and make it look pretty again.

[Tuttles]

I am excited that Nicor is going to finally move the meter OUTSIDE!  Scared of the REAL gas bills we will receive, but sooo tired of having to let the guys in the house. 

I called the number on the letter & United Meters sent guys out to figure out where they will move the meters.  They, of course, wanted to immediately just put it in the front of the house.  We have bushes there now, but someday we or somebody else might want to remove the bushes & who wants to see the gas meter right out in front?  Right?  So the guys looked around & figured out an easy way to put the new meter on the side of our house very close to wear the boiler & hot water heater are located.   When they do this, there will be a lot of unused gas pipe left behind.  They United Meter guys admitted that depending on the mood/attitude of the workers that do the actual work this spring, they may or may not be willing to remove the unneeded pipes!  Ughh!  How annoying.  Doesn't anybody care to do a job right?  I am not really looking forward to having to babysit workers with a bad attitude in my basement.  I have to say that the guys who did come out were great. 

Does anyone know, do they go under the sidewalk?  I would LOVE it if they messed up the sidewalk & had to replace the current one they marked b/c it is in really bad shape!    

As for damaged sod/grass-we replaced part of the sidewalk in our back yard last summer. I thought for sure that I would have to reseed the lawn, but it's amazing how quickly & how well it came back.  I watered a whole bunch & pulled any weeds that tried to take over.  I didn't do anything extraordinary. 

[dukesdad]

They use a directional boring machine to go under the sidewalk. The only area that is disturbed is part of the parkway and the area directly under the meter. The guys that did our inside work did a very nice job. They held the new feed close to the wall, behind furniture, would have been much easier to just do a straight run from where they entered the building. I had no problems with the whole process.

[Bonster]

My "straight run" from the new meter is up between the joists, but they simply tapped into the original lines, adding a "U" where the original meter was in my basement.  Now the supply for my furnace runs all way to the front of the house, then half way back before turning toward the unit.  They wouldn't remove the excess even with the offer of extra $$.

I've asked 3 different locals (24x7, Joe Pekny, Neptune) and they all said they'd advise leaving it unless there's a "problem."  Unbelievable. 

Might end up doing it myself; don't tell the wife.

[Noble Falcon]

Wow Bonster that is alot of pipe. No problems with the appliances? How does the outside look?

[Bonster]

It's the same amount of pipe I had before; it used to enter at the front of the house.  Now it's a waste.  It's all gas tight so everything works just fine.

[OICU812]

xrap now I'm really scared of what's about to happen.

[EC]

Not saying that it only happens with this, but most of the problems I've heard are with finished basements.

[Bonster]

They were great in that respect, no damage whatsoever (though my basement ceiling isn't finished).
I just have a lot of excess pipe left over.

[Tuttles]

Finally got hit with an ACTUAL gas bill from Nicor!  So aggravating especially since I know I have let them in the house many times-but the estimated bills just kept on coming.  Despite any potential lawn damage & excess pipes in the basement, I am looking forward to getting bills based upon our actual usage.  Am I just too hopeful about this?   We've had nothing bad bad experiences with Nicor-submitting our own readings online or over the phone, the billing department, and the customer service department too. 

[buzz]

NICOR isn't reliable.  They tell everyone that they alternate estimates and actuals.  They don't.  Since I started phoning my readings in it's gotten better.  I try to call on the date listed as the "reading date" in the online schedule.  Good luck.

[OICU812]

I literally shit when tht ACTUAL bill came in. Actual bill my ass. We would send in readings and let those f*ckers into the house to get the readings and still they bent us over and stuck it in without lube. I swear to god the supervisor was laughing as she suggested we go on a payment plan.

I doubt that moving the meter outside would make any difference. I mean apparently the asshole could not read the meter properly when he came inside what makes them think he can read it poperly outside? Jesus christ on a stick. I swear!!!

[Tuttles]

If Com Ed & the water dept. can figure out how to get accurate bills to us on a regular basis without coming in our house or requiring us to call in a reading, why can't Nicor do the same?   I am sorry, but waiting on hold 40 minutes to call in a reading or to get help when it's all $#%@ed up is not an option when you have a day job or kids at home to take care of! 

When we first moved in, they wouldn't accept our reading online b/c they were soooo much lower than the estimates based upon the previous owners.  Customer service told us our "house was built wrong" b/c the meter was inside!!!!  WTF?    We've had other problems with the billing department in the past too.  Customer service could see that we had paid our bill, but the billing department apparently could not figure out that we made a payment.  Customer service couldn't figure out how to resolve the problem with billing department, so we ended up having to pay a deposit (which we got back a year later) rather than try to battle it out with them and risk getting our gas cut off.  It's always been something with Nicor. 

So now we have the HUGE gas bill.  No way I am paying it all at once!  They can wait for their deposit plus 4 installments! 

I really really really hope that the meter outside makes life with Nicor more tolerable.

[n01_important]

There is a government agency that oversees Nicor.  Complain to them... if enough of us complain, they might do something about it.

Who am I kidding... some bureaucrat will just get a job to file the paperwork... increasing the base cost with no added results.  Someone please shoot me.

[buzz]

There is a government agency that oversees Nicor.  Complain to them...

What's the name of that agency ?

[OakParkSpartan]

There is a government agency that oversees Nicor.  Complain to them...

What's the name of that agency ?

I believe the Illinois Commerce Commission is the regulatory body.

You can also contact the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and they'll point you in the right direction.

[baron von berwyn]

 good luck with nicor fixing your lawn....they dug up ours last year for the gas meter and they were never heard from again....fortunately, it grows back with time and now it's fine.  but hey nicor- don't go tellin everyone you are gonna fix their lawn after you work on it and then duck out on the promise.....jerks!!