Gas meter nicked for second time

lemontart

Pssst wrote: »

National Grid does not own gas meters. NG provides emergency services and provides the infrastructure for gas transportation. A subsidiary company, National grid Metering may own your meter but then there are also many other MAMs (meter asset managers) . Some gas companies eg British Gas,have ownership of their own metering assets. Either way, NG do not have responsibility for resiting your meter. That would have to be dealt with via your gas supplier who,no doubt,would seek to charge. There is very little scrap value in meters. They are generally steel cased. The scroats may not know this. In other cases,meters get nicked to be used to obtain an illegal supply .

But moving a meter may well involve moving the service pipe which is not the responsibility of the gas suppliers also National Grid are responsible for the gas emergency service which deals with making safe when a meter is stolen. Just for the record bg subcontract a lot of their metering work.

Pssst

Joyful wrote: »

To my knowledge they have not since deregulation.

In fact British Gas are currently contracting United Utilities to reomve National Grid meters in many homes and fit British Gas owned meters ,so avoiding meter hire charges. This is especially so for ETMs as well as credit meters.

Pink_fluff

Stipey -

Generally you will only have 1 gas meter. And they do have 'id' numbers on them. It is called the 'meter serial number' and this is usually written across the meter and can be a combination of numbers and letters and this is how the gas man know's he is reading 'your' meter and also you have a something called and mprn - meter point reference number - a unique number allocated to the gas supply at your house.

Gman0365

stipey wrote: »

well I've just had my gas meter stolen. In Manchester, and googled this page to see if I could find anything out. A pattern is emerging. Apparently they use two meters, one to use & one to show to the meter man. Why don't the meters have ID numbers on that the meter man has to check? or collars that can't be removed???

I've came across this sort of thing before but it was with Electronic Token Meters (ETM) in one particular estate in Glasgow. They weren't being stolen for scrap as really there is only a minimal value in the steel casing. The ETM's were being chosen depending on the amount of credit that was in the meter! The benefit of this type of meter is that it has a tilt/tamper sensor inside it that switches the meter off if it tilts too far off the vertical. A good idea you might think, but a nightmare if your meter is located next to a washing machine as the vibrations often cause the meter to trip. A standard steel case credit meter doesn't have this facility.

I've noticed that BES stock a seal that can be clipped around the inlet and outlet of the gas meter to prevent access to the brass nuts. Search for "Connectionlock" on their website www.bes.co.uk Although these things generally aren't fitted by the gas user there isn't really anything to stop you from fitting it yourself. Bear in mind that if for any reason the gas meter needs to be exchanged in the future then the engineer will break the seals to gain access to the meter nuts. These seals aren't the answer to all your problems, if the thief really wants the meter then he'll just break the seals off but it may at least act as a detterent.

savemoney

These idiots who do this want locking up for along time they can cause a death the stupid people

C_Mababejive

Gas meter thefts are on the increase. If you meter is in an outside box,make sure you know its serial no and also take a reading occasionally. It amazes me that people are selling gas meters and associated fittings on ebay. Clearly they may well have been stolen and are being bought for dubious purposes. Why havent Ebay/police done something about it?

GetRealBabe

Never heard about that before. Had a gas meter outside my flat 20 years ago and no one nicked it

(Wonder why so many old threads are getting re-opened all over this forum)

treesnstones

we have just had our gas meter stolen from Twickenham. National grid man had one yesterday in Chiswick too. He says its on the rise. Very inconvenient at supplier wont replace without case number and min of 5 days!!!!can you believe it? they recon gas is classed as a luxury!! and therefore can't class the job as an emergeny. We hope to change to a new supplier who will put in a new box tomorrow. Whew.. the new one will be locked up tight.

[Deleted User]

absolutely not stolen for scrap value at all. the end result of that meter has got a much more valuable end.Its known in the trade as "subbing", that is, its going to be used as a substitute meter.a 5 minute job and a pair of stilsons and hey presto free gas, turn the central heating up to tropical setting.very common now, meter theft,.you dont even have to nick them,a couple of clicks on ebay should get you an imperial meter for £20/30 or do you fancy a brand new G4 metric at £50. have even seen one the latest electric smart meters for sale.Fast food joints can even buy the bigger meters needed for much cheaper running costs indeed