GMSA Says Pay the $2400 Gas Bill

After several months of investigation, Grove Municipal Services Authority board members have told customer Tim M. Langley to pay his gas bill for two months of service, amounting to around $2400, despite the fact that this is 600% higher than normal.

Langley, General Manager of the Grove Sun Daily the past four years, had protested the bill for service last winter and had asked the board for an investigation into how so much gas could be used, a radical departure from his normal winter bills. GMSA had failed to read the meter for one month, January, and when Langley received the bill for two months of service at more than $2400 his eyebrows went up. His normal bill he said was around $250-$300 per month in the winter.

Board member Larry Green spent several weeks analyzing the problem, including meter failure, meter tampering, gas fired equipment in the house, and concluded that "the gas went through the meter and was basically metered correctly." Langley said he had no opportunity to have the meter tested at a neutral facility and asked for arbitration.

The board voted 4-0 to have Langley pay the bill.

In other GMSA action:

--The board approved a lease agreement with Precision Wi-Fi for the placement of antennas on top of three city water towers for a three-year period. Precision will pay $50 per antenna per month, or $16,200 over the period for three antennas per tower.

--Heard presentations on natural gas supplies from Constellation New Energy of Louisville, KY, and OneOK, of Tulsa. OneOK has had the gas contract for the city since 2003, during which time the cost of natural gas has gone from 5.25 decatherms to 7.17 decatherms in 2007. The GMSA board must now consider the issues of price, reliability, accountability and knowledge when issuing a new contract for gas service. Constellation owns Cornerstone Energy, which supplies gas to Simmons. Current gas prices are down 15% in the past four weeks, board members were told.