No gas??

[jack]

Oh my gosh, I keep thinking I'm on top of things and then it turns out I have no idea :(

Since Sat lunchtime, we seem to have no gas. I don't *think* that means a leak?? Like, there's no indication of a gas smell or anything. But no gas in the stove or heating.

I don't *think* I screwed up paying the bill.

The last several months we've has some work done in the street, we had the gas cut off for a day while they did... something. But that was, lots of notes through the door saying "warning, off on this day, on again on this day, someone will come round to disconnect you and reconnect you".

My best guess is, either a problem with the valve here?? Or a problem with the works on the gas main upstream. But I don't know how to tell the difference.

I don't know if this is a "my problem, need to get a heating engineer", or "national grid problem, need to call them and ask" or how to tell the difference. I feel like that's just obvious to everyone else, but I somehow missed out knowing :(

And if it is cut off upstream, does that mean you need a professional to reconnect it? Or that causes all sorts of problems?

I naively supposed that the website would contain some sort of information, but it seems divided into two sections: "oh my god I smell gas emergency" and "everything is working as expected but I don't like it". I seem to have a problem physically impossible to have, what does that mean?

Comments

[redbird]

What that means is that the website is badly designed.

If it was me, I'd call the utility and tell them that I had no gas, and ask if they know why. Likely answers are "that there's a problem with your bill, (which may mean they messed up rather than yu forgot to pay); that they're doing work on something, or had to cut off your gas because of a nearby leak; or they don't know, possibly with "you need to call a plumber."

If they shut your gas off because of a problem at your neighbor's house, or an actual or suspected leak upstream, they might be slow to notify you.

[seekingferret]

Good advice. I'd add, go to your nearest neighbors and check if they have gas.

[hatam_soferet]

Call them; it may not be an emergency, but they'll probably treat it as one to be on the safe side, and that means you'll get your gas back quicker.

[wild_irises]

This.

As for "on top of things," it's an impossible goal. See Charlie Stross's recent blog post on "adulting" and impostor syndrome, among other resources.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. There are a near-infinite number of things that adults have to deal with in modern society. Near-competency in all of them is impossible. Modern humans delegate to providers - and yours in this case is your gas-supplier.