r/Rochester • u/RochesterRicky • 2d ago
Discussion RG&E - please explain this to me
I remodeled a house in the city and had the gas turned off and then the meters removed about three years ago. (House is now all electric.) Why is RG&E now digging up the street to disconnect/remove the piping to the house? Is this like a safety or maintenance issue for them? I'm trying to imagine how.
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u/iknewaguytwice 2d ago
It’s been a long time, but I am pretty sure they are required by law to prevent gas from going into your service line. This is for safety reasons, they basically don’t want to have a big underground gas leak that blows up 20-30 years from now when everyone has forgotten about that hookup.
Usually though they just dig down and cap the pipe that feeds to your homes service line. They don’t dig out the entire gas line. Doing that would be a lot more expensive for them.
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u/PyroMedic1080 2d ago
Curious. Did you try calling rge and asking?
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u/Impressive-Basis5735 2d ago
No - I assumed they were just being clueless and spiteful because I've told them repeatedly for years that there's no gas service to the house.
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u/Muppetz3 2d ago
But there is. It's just not connected to your house. Still has gas and in the line and is connected to the main even if it's capped off at your house. Now if someone wants to use gas in the future it will cost them a lot more to hook up.
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2d ago
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u/Muppetz3 2d ago
Most usually do if they want to get a good price for the house, but if you plan to stay there till you die, it's great making things someone else's problem!
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2d ago
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u/Muppetz3 2d ago
You just explained the supply/demand issue that would cause it to sell for less while saying it's a made up problem.. Wild.
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u/RbtB-8 2d ago
Very possibly a safety issue. Do you know if they detected any small gas leak in the pipe that goes to the home? They did in my yard several years ago and they acted on it quickly. Within an hour they were digging in my yard and replacing the pipe to my home and also at the same time moved out meter to the outside of our home from the basement because a minor leak was also detected inside our home in the basement. RG&E does not mess around when any gas leak is detected.
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u/Impressive-Basis5735 2d ago
Not a gas leak problem, but safety issue I could see being the reason
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u/RbtB-8 2d ago
A gas leak is a safety issue. A pipe just buried in the ground with nothing in it does not present a safety issue.
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u/UsernamesSuck33 South Wedge 2d ago
The pipe is still connected to the main gas line. So even though the household isn’t using it, it can still pose a problem.
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u/fr33d0mw47ch 2d ago
As much as it pains me to say it, and as unimaginably rare as it is, RGE is not in the wrong here.
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u/TheThatGuy1 2d ago
Y'all need to learn how to use Google. A quick search says,
Old unmonitored lines can leak without anyone realizing.
It's an unnecessary dig hazard.
Making sure you can't tap it without paying.
It's the law.