Difficult to Detect Natural Gas Bypass Theft Using Typical Utility Theft Detection
By R. G. Lucas
After a homeowner installed a gas meter bypass to supply natural gas directly through a separate bypass gas line to a new furnace in the basement, “The gas company had no way of knowing that the people had installed a new gas furnace because the meter was outside the house and nothing in that area had been disturbed. There was no change in the average gas consumption because the gas to the water heater and stove was still metered, same as before.” From descriptions in Mr. Lebart Beck’s (1910-2002) book described on http://www.bartbeck.com/page132.html.
This theft situation would not have been detected visually by the gas company or through the installation of a smart meter. The amount of gas previously consumed by the stove and the water heater did not go up or down and was properly metered. If the home was previously electrically heated or heated on fuel oil, when the gas furnace was put in on a bypass, the gas company would not have been able to detect any abnormalities, even though there was theft.
If the house was recently weatherized, the electric company might have chalked up a sudden drop in electricity, to improvements in efficiency and neither the electric company nor the gas company would have been able to detect the theft.
One might ask, “How can this type of gas theft be detected? Can utilities rely upon tip lines for 100% detection of gas bypass line theft?”
How often does gas bypass theft go undetected? Here are a few cases where some of the detected bypass thefts went undetected for years:
- Utility says meter bypass saved $24,000 in 32 years
- Jail, fine, restitution for man who used bypass to heat pool
- Garage fire leads to confession of illegal bypass in Menomonee Falls
- Man says he knew of meter bypass but did not install it
- Man indicted for stealing natural gas for apartment building
- Solenoid operated bypass installed to charge CNG compressor station
- Elderly Man Allegedly Steals $50K In Natural Gas
- Is a natural gas meter necessary for residential service or can it be bypassed?
Some of other theft results from the installation of stolen gas meters.
“Across the country natural gas meters are being stolen from abandoned or vacant houses and are being installed in occupied homes.” (Another negative result of the current housing foreclosure plague across our nation)
“By installing the stolen meters, homeowners can still receive the natural gas they need to heat their home and not be charged for gas consumption, cheating their gas companies out of tens of thousands of dollars.” (read more about this at http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/wealth-building-investments/186)
We invite readers of this blog to comment on how, other than through the use of aerial infrared analysis, gas utilities can improve detection of this type of theft.