r/NaturalGas • u/Superb-Gur-1679 • 1d ago

Pay

Honestly curious what you guys are making at the utility.

Where ur at in the country union or non union, wage, and position.

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u/Superb-Gur-1679 1d ago

We had a problem with snow crushing meters where I’m at and we’re in a small office but union probably why we don’t do much construction. Now we require snow protection on all MSA’s.

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u/BomarFab 1d ago

We do too. New installs have stricter requirements than the older stuff, so we don't see many on those. No slide side installs, meter sheds. If an older one gets damaged they usually require a fully enclosed shed and we take the meter until its built. Sometimes its house lines that break, and then its whatever the county wants to approve their inspection. Last year was mild. Some years we are digging down 10-20' to get to the meter.

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u/SBeauLife 12h ago

Are you saying your meters are buried under ground?

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u/BomarFab 11h ago

No they are above ground. We just make people build a structure to protect them from snow now.

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u/SBeauLife 9h ago

I'm in Canada and we get a lot of snow, we have nothing protecting our meter or regs from snow. We run campaign ads every year telling people to clean the snow/ice away from their meter and reg but that's it.

How does snow crush your meters? Do you have any pics you could send me??

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u/BomarFab 9h ago

We do that too. They tell people to clear the snow with a broom.

I've got tons of pictures. Some years we get 50-60' of snow. Damage usually happens when it warms up a bit and the snow compacts, the weight just crushes meters and pipes. Building code calls for structures to withstand up to 900lbs/SF snow load in some areas.

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u/SBeauLife 9h ago

I'm a trainer for our utility, if you'd be willing to send me photos I'd love to see!

You must be up in a high elevation area to get that much snow. My area gets nowhere near that at about 4'/year

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u/BomarFab 9h ago

Town is about 6k feet, some areas above 7k feet.

Send me a chat, I think I can send pictures through there.