The Problem with Vectren

A few days after buying this farm (and 2 days after getting the natural gas turned on) we had the gas shut off due to a leak in the line between the meter and the road. Since it was in the low 90˚F's we were not using any gas to heat the house, the water heater could not be turned on at all according to the guy who came out to turn on the gas and no gas use there and no furnace pilot lights were lit so no gas use there. And yet Vectren, a month later, sent us a bill for $5.35.

So Eugene sees the bill and says "What the F***?" or something along those lines and calls Vectren and asks them why we are being charged for gas we did not use? they keep him on the line, tell him there is a nominal charge for just being a customer/consumer of around $4.50 but they will take a look at our bill and adjust it and send us a new bill.

I have now learned when dealing with a company that sells a petroleum product that they will smile in your face and tell you soothing words to keep you off guard while they lie through their teeth.

So on Saturday we get the adjusted bill and find we now own Vectren $12.36 for basically nothing other than sending a person out to turn on the gas and another one out (granted with a back hoe) to shut down the gas.

I told my brother about this and he said pay it or soon we will probably owe them $500+ as he had a similar thing happen with a bank, a $2 overdraft that eventually turned into a $200 fee all because he thought the $2 charge was bogus.

So I guess we will pay Vectren their extortion monies and will eventually get the way ugly gas meter off of the front of the house and be a natural gas free farm.

The energy plan is to buy/build at least one wind generator, get several photo voltaic cells along with simpler solar heaters, get a wood burning furnace and get out butts off of the grid 'cause the price of natural gas, propane, coal are only going up, up, up. Not to mention the fact that these forms of energy are big time polluters.

So we will be lean and green and off the grid in the next couple of years or so