Live In Amarillo? Here’s Why You Might Have Your Gas Turned Off Soon

I went home the other day and started doing what I normally do. I was getting stuff ready for dinner. I was cleaning up around the house a little bit. I went to the sink in the bathroom to wash my hands.

It was taking a bit too long for my water to heat up. In fact, it never did. That was odd. What is going on? I went to the kitchen to start boiling some water to make iced tea. My stove wouldn't turn on. OK, this is really strange.

I remember earlier my Ring doorbell went off. I was not home. So I decided to check out if there was something there to let me know something. Yes, there was. My gas was shut off. Okay, that mystery was solved. Oh, but why was it?

Insert here a joke about not paying my bill. I know that is what you are thinking. I autopay everything so stop that right there. So why was my gas turned off? That was the important question. Oh, and how long before I can get it back on? I guess that is important too.

This was the day I found out that Atmos was replacing our gas meters. Remember when Xcel told us about our electric meters being replaced with smart meters? Apparently, Atmos is doing the same thing. But their meters are called 'wireless meters'.

It's an easy peasy process since our gas meters are in the alleys. If you're not at home when Atmos workers come by to give you notice, they'll pop a tag on your door that looks like this:

They give you a number to call. When I called it turned out it was the emergency number. I felt bad using it because this is not what I considered an emergency. Unless the gas is not back on in time for my shower. Then maybe. A cold shower is not fun so early in the morning.

The customer service representative who answered the phone opened up an all-day ticket and notified me that someone over age 18 would need to be at the home when workers arrived. That meant I would need to be there all day.

Luckily someone got to my house in a couple of hours. So not a bad wait.

The bottom line here is that if you come home to cold water, no heat, and no gas....but you're certain you paid your bill.....you just might be in the midst of getting your very own revamped wireless gas meter.

Just be sure to check that front doorknob before assuming the worst.