NO GAS LIGHTING
Body shop battles to stay warm
Dear John: I know this won’t be one of your most pressing requests, but to me it is of great importance. I am an avid reader of your column and marvel at the results you get for your readers.
My problem is this: I own a body shop in Neptune, NJ, and we have no heat in our building — because of New Jersey Natural Gas’ policy, I should add.
Our shop is 6,000 square feet of unheated space, and it’s been very cold in the building.
Business was bad last year, and we fell behind on our gas bill payments. We shut the gas off in April to save any further bills, because you get billed even if you don’t use the gas. And NJNG won’t turn it back on until I give them the $2,000 they say I owe from last year.
I called and offered to pay a re-connection fee and pay off the past due balance with my current bills until the deficit is gone, but NJNG said no.
It said I should have thought of that before I asked it to turn off the gas.
My five employees are all working with kerosene heaters and their coats on in their bays to try to keep warm. But the fumes are getting to them, and some are threatening to quit unless I get the gas heaters turned on and we stop using the portable heaters.
We have cut back on what we can offer now, as our business requires a building around 70 degrees at all times for the materials to dry.
We’re subbing out what we can’t do in the cold and it’s killing me to give that away.
Can you please intercede with New Jersey Natural Gas and ask it to accept something less than the $2,000 I don’t have, let me pay the arrears over time and turn my gas back on.
I’ve been in business more than 40 years, and this is the first time this has ever happened to me.
Please try to get NJNG to help me somehow. Thank you for anything you can do. R.T.
Dear R.T.: I tried negotiating on your behalf with New Jersey Resources, which is the parent company of NJNG, but with no success. So instead of a nice Merry Christmas column, I’ve got a bah humbug for you.
Do me a favor: If anyone blows themselves up with the kerosene heaters or gets asphyxiated, please let me know and I’ll run a follow-up column to make NJ Resources look even worse.
Look, I understand that companies like to get paid. But I think utilities are a special case, so they should comport themselves better than other companies. And I’m disappointed with NJ Resources, especially since I begged.
Dear John: I realize that you posted your final comment on landline phones, but I would like to point out why I still have one.
My phone was the only working phone in the neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy paid us a visit. I had neighbors coming from many blocks away to make emergency calls to relatives and important calls for business.
Without my landline, no one would have been able to make these connections. I have a generator at my house that provided electricity during the same emergency. J.G.
Dear J.G.: Geez, I could write bad things about the pope — which, of course, I wouldn’t — and not get the same reaction as I’ve had from my response to landline phones.
Let me say it again. I have nothing against landlines. I have a landline. I love landlines. And if I actually got one legitimate call on the landline a month I’d be thrilled.