Turning on my own gas.?

With all the hub-bub over the holidays I forgot to pay my Southern California Gas Company bill. They turned off the gas yesterday while I was at work. I went and paid the bill and called to have service reconnected. The Gas Company Representative informed me that they would not be able to turn the gas back on until thursday of the following week. I need to restore my heat. Considering that my bill is paid and the reconnect fee as well as deposit has been paid is there any reason that I cannot turn the gas back on myself?

Well, for one thing, it's illegal.

You'd have to break the lock that the gas company put on the meter and if you look at it you will see that it is not a standard padlock but a specialized lock that is extremely difficult to remove without the special magnetic key. Be thankful that you're in So Cal, not northern Wisconsin.

Grab a couple of electric heaters at Wally World and make do until they come out to turn it on. The extra electricity cost will be much less than the charge for coming out sooner and a heck of a lot less than the potential fines for tampering with the meter lock.

can u start the pilot light? there could be something outside that they have to do but who knows

Yes, That's what I did. But I would first recommend going on automatic payment. Because these guy take it personal will will try to screw you for doing their job. If you have auto pay, they will have nothing they can do to you in the furtue. Do not ever let the gas company in you home. I once had a friend who worked for the gas company who said if someone did that to him, he would go into the house and make up an excuse for a repairman to come so he could shut it off again. That way the person would have to not only wait longer but, also have to pay a guy to come out to say everything was OK. He said the only way to stop that was to refuse to let the person into your house. If they guy demmands to come in, deny him and ask to speak to his supervisor and then have the supervisor come out. Make whatever excuse to say you do not trust the worker.

Once you complete the paperwork and verify everything is fine and you are paid up, you should simply go to your gas line with a wrench and turn it on.

I did that, and the worker tried pulling the same stunt. I refused to let him in. He got pissed and I asked to speak to him supervisor to complain about his rudness.

A good excuse is to simply tell them someone from the gas company was in the neighborhood and he turned it on when you asked