Free Overload by Arthur Hailey Page B

far wall were switches,
    circuit breakers, and meters for gas and electricity. A young man in
    GSP & L service uniform looked up as they came in. He said casually,
    "Hii"
    Harry London introduced Nim, then instructed, "Tell Mr. Goldman what
    you found."
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"Well, the electric meter had the seal broken and was put in the way it
    is now-upside down."
    "Which makes the meter run backwards or stop," London added.
    Nim nodded, well aware of that simple but effective way to get free
    power. First, the seal on a meter was pried open carefully. After that,
    the meter-wbich was simply plugged in to slots behind it-could be lifted
    out, inverted, and replaced. From then on, as electricity was consumed,
    the meter would either reverse itself or stop entirely-if the first, the
    record of consumption would diminish instead of increasing as it should.
    Later-probably a few days before a power company meter reader was
    expected-the meter would be restored to normal functioning, "ith the
    disturbance of the seal carefully concealed.
    Several power companies which had suffered this kind of theft countered
    it nowadays by installing newer-type meters which operated correctly
    whether upside down or not. Another prevention method was through
    elaborate locking rings which made meters non-removable, exccpt with
    special keys. However, other ingenious ways of power theft existed; also
    there were still millions of older-type meters in use that could not
    accommodate locking rings, and they would cost a fortune to replace.
    Thus, through sheer numbers, plus the impossibility of inspecting all
    meters regularly, the cheaters held an advantage.
    "The job on gas was fancier," the serviceman said. He moved to a gas
    meter nearby and knelt beside it. "Take a look here."
    Nim Nvatched as, with one hand, the serviceman traced a pipe which
    emerged from a wall, then connected to the meter several feet away. "This
    is the gas line coming in from outside."
    "From the street," Harry London added. "From the company main."
    Nim nodded.
    "Over here"-the serviceman's hand moved to the far side of the meter-"is
    a line to the customer's outlets. They use gas here for a big water
    heater, hot-air car dryers and for the stove and heater in an apartment
    upstairs. Every month that's a lot of gas. Now look at thisclosely." This
    time, using both bands, he fingered what appeared to be pipe joints where
    the two pipes he bad pointed to disappeared into the wall. Around each
    the cement bad been loosened, some of it now in a small pile on the
    floor.
    "I did that," the serviceman volunteered, "to get a better look, and what
    you can see now is that those aren't ordinary joints. 'I'liev're Tjoints,
    connected to each other by another pipe, buried out of sight inside the
    wall."
    "An old-fashioned cheater's bypass," London said, "though this is the
    neatest one I've seen. What happens is that most of the gas used doesn't
    pass through the meter the way it should, but goes directly from the
    street to the appliances."
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"There's enough still goes through the meter to keep it operating," the
    young serviceman explained. "But gas flows where there's least resistance.
    There's some resistance in the meter, so most gas goes through that extra
    pipe-tbe freebie route."
    "Not any more," London pronounced.
    A pert young woman carrying cameras and equipment came in from outside. She
    inquired cheerfully, "Somebody here want pictures?"
    "Sure do." London indicated the gas meter. "That setup first." He told Nim,
    "When we get a shot the way it is, we'll chip out the rest of the cement
    and expose the illegal pipe."
    The fox-faced garageman bad been hovering in the rear. He protested, "Hey,
    you guys can't break up no wall. This's my place."
    "I'll remind you, Mr. Jackson, you gave us permission to come in and check
    on our company's equipn~ent. But if you want to review vour rights, and
    ours, I suggest you call your lawyer. I think you'll need one, anyway.
    11 1 don't