Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) is working with Precision Pipeline Solutions to perform safety inspections on our natural gas meters in your neighborhood as required by the State of Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).  This is a mandatory safety inspection that will take only a few minutes to perform.

If your natural gas meter is outside of your residence, the inspection can be completed without your assistance; if you have an inside natural gas meter and are not home, we will leave a card with information on how to schedule an appointment at a convenient time.

All inspectors will have proper identification badges with the NPU and PPS logos.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, any technician entering your home to perform a gas meter safety inspection will enter wearing a face mask, face shield, and gloves to safely complete this work.  We also ask that you consider wearing a mask and please maintain six feet of social distancing from the technician, as recommended by the federal and state health officials.

Please understand that we are taking every necessary precaution to complete this work as quickly and safely as we can. But this safety inspection is required by the State of Connecticut; if we cannot complete the safety inspection in a timely manner, we will be required to turn off your natural gas service.

Please contact NPU at 860-887-2555 for more information.

What the safety inspection entails:

1. Visual inspection of the meter and gas piping between the meter and the building wall. The inspector will be looking for visible damage, corrosion, and other safety concerns such as electrical grounding to the gas pipe, which is not allowed.
2. Check for gas leaks with an electronic instrument specifically designed to detect gas leaks.
3. Minor gas leaks resulting from a loosened connection or fitting will be corrected on-site and retested to confirm the leak is repaired.
4. Leaks resulting from excessive corrosion or a damaged meter will require an NPU technician to repair. The PPS technician performing your safety inspection will advise you if this occurs and NPU will make all necessary repairs as soon as possible.
5. All repairs resulting from this inspection upstream of and including the meter will be provided free of charge to the customer.

Why this safety inspection is necessary:

1. The Code of Federal Regulations 49 CFR Part 192.481 states that each Operator (NPU is an Operator) must inspect each pipeline or portion of the pipeline that is exposed to the atmosphere for evidence of atmospheric corrosion at least once every 3 calendar years, but with intervals not exceeding 39 months.
2. In business districts and for public buildings this survey occurs once per calendar year, but with intervals not exceeding 15 months.
3. Federal and state regulators, the people in charge of enforcing laws and regulations, have taken the stance in recent years that if an operator can’t perform a safety inspection in accordance with the above regulations the only way to ensure public safety is to shut off gas to the property. While NPU does not want to shut off anyone’s gas service, we are in agreement that safety always has to be our top priority.