Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-05
KICKING ON GAS BILLS.
Others Tell How They Think They
Have Been Imposed Upon.

Have Been Imposed Upon.
The chapter In The Star yesterday on
the excessive gas bills for the month of
January seems to have struck a responsive
chord in many people. Other communica-
lions have come to The Star Office upon
this subject.
Experience" says: Surely your timely
column today about exorbitant gas bills
for January struck sympathetic fire in a
thousand households. The polite clerk
whose business 1t is to meet and dodge
complaints simply talked deceitfully or ig-
norantly. Please permit one more e.:per-
fenced to state the real cause of the evil
and the remedy, which lies with the con-
sumner himself. In the first place, ire
spective of the meter, it Is tine custom
Of gas companies to add, or deduct an
agreed percentage, in all available or doubt
full cases, to the amount Cor the previous
month. according to the season of the
year, and carefully prepared statistics COW
ering many years. This month the per
centage C22) Is unusually high. Why is
best known to the company. Secondly, at
least one-half the meters are not read by
the men employed to do 1t. 1 believe it
would be safe to say that none of them are
read except where the reader is followed
and intelligently watched. 1 happened
about ten days ago, to be standing, on my
own business, in e corner of one of the
largest dry goods houses in the northwest
section, where the gas meter was behind a
screen, and the reader came along With
out lifting the tin covering the face of the
meter, and thinking no one observed him
he tapped it with his knuckles and passed
on. That house probably pays % per cent
more this month than last. No legislative
cheapening Of cost per thousand feet will
remedy this. What matters the price of
wheat IL the seller measures to suit him
self? Some people keep their own tools
and disconnect the meter and connect di-
rectiy with street service after each pre-
tended reading. That is fraudulent and
wrong. Others exhaust the meter with an
air pump and reinfiate to suit themselves
That is fraudulent and wrong. Two
wrongs don't make a right. The real rem
edy Is learn to read the meter-it Is simple
other day, and make a simple record of it
alongside the meter. When :he reader
comes follow him to the meter and see
that the reading tallies. If not one prompt
nation and copy Of the readings will
avoid the percentage assessment ard the
necessity of any future complaint forever.
Another Kicker.
Rox tells of his efforts to reduce his bill
as follows:
II was quite amused while reading the
complaints of the kckers' 81 on account
of their excessive gas bills for the month
of January, and equally amused at the ex-
cuses of the gas man to me Star man,
claiming that the January bills were for a
period averaging four days longer than the
December bills, and the gas man also says
upon referring to his books, he finds that
the man who complained on account of mis-
$3.50 bill really only burned % cents worth
more gas than he did in December Now I
would like to tell you that took particular
care in regard to the use of gas since the
December BILL having full control of all
my lights. I light them myself and extin-
guish them myself, lighting them later and
extinguishing them sooner, closing my place
Of business one-half hour earlier every
night. Yet my gas bill was 25 per cent
greater this month than 1t was last month
uarv as did in Decamher inf yat ;f T
should make complaint to the gas man.
what good would it do? He would give one
Of those killing smiles and say: You must
have used it. Not less than four business