I wonder if I could get that... I need a new septic tank! :)

My Mother lives on the east side of Youngstown,Oh and she is served by Dominion East Ohio Gas.

She signed up for the linebacker service when they first proposed.

To date, they have:
1. Snaked her drain lines 4 times

2. after the fourth incident of snaking the line they opted to totally replaced her house sewer line from the house to the street.

3. relaced her water service line from the curbstop at the street to the house. (This was done in mid winter with 33 inches of frost in the ground)

3. Replaced her gas line.

Mothers house is a large farmhouse that sits back almost 250ft from the street and if one were to add up the cost of having all that work done it would be in excess of $25K+

I am a master plumber and I was there when they laid all three lines. To their credit they used well known contractors that had all the right equipment to get in,complete the job quickly and with an absolute minimum disrupton to her landscaping. In fact when they laid the water line is mid winter they left the soil slightly built up to allow for settling and they mulched it with straw, then later in the spring, when the ground was thawed they sent a couple guys back to rake it out and plant grass seed, which they mulched with straw again.

In each case the only thing my mother had to do was sign the contract stating the job was finished to her satisfaction so they could get paid. Not one additional penny was charged to her. In fact, the only additional cost she incurred was my fault. When the guys were there in mid winter at 14degF I put a huge pot of coffee on and told the boss that he and his crew were welcome to step in the back door to the kitchen and grab a coffee and some cookies to warm up if they wanted to.

Not only would I highly recommend the service, in my humble opinion anyone who doesn't sign up for it is a fool.

Oh my gosh, lazypup. I'm calling Dominion East Ohio Monday and talk to them about the service. My house is very old too (schoolhouse)and is the clay tile still. The last time I had it snaked the guy said he could see little if anything wrong with the old tile, it was still in pretty good shape. There might be a slight dip in the grade that could be causing the frequent clogs but nothing major. Roots are the main culprit it seems. Plus I have to be careful that I don't use the fancy TP! It's the Dollar General cheap brand that works the best, altho isn't my favorite. ha. Thanks for your reply.

Before you sign up with your utility company, do check with your home owners--ours covers those things. It would be pointless to pay twice for the same insurance. And even if you don't currently have that coverage on your homeowners, check to see how much THEY would charge to cover you for those things--and if you'd have the option of hiring your own workmen.

Don't know about your utility company, but ours touts their 'worry-free' contracts that cover appliance, heating repair--well, if you sign up and pay for that, that's when you need to start worrying--they take forever to come out, and whatever is wrong is generally, somehow not covered by the policy.

I would never use my homeowner insurance for anything like this if there were another option. Anytime you make a claim on your homeowner insurance you are risking premium increase or cancellation.

Hmmm... That must be an east coast thing - I haven't heard about it over here. Then again, we have sewer but no septic. We have PG&E for gas and SMUD for electric. We get free shade trees though. LOL

I also would never put such a small expense ( a couple hundred dollars) on our homeowners insurance. They may cover it but unfortunately they'll get their money back somehow. It sounds like you're getting a good deal!

I just signed up for the sewer/water line repair program, also through Dominion (in Va.). The age of the townhouses in my subdivision worries me. In the past 2 or 3 years, there have been pipe breaks at 3 houses on my block alone, plus another neighbor a couple doors down has had pipe issues several years back. The repair expense is quite large; at least one of my neighbors had not signed up for the coverage, and I felt really bad for her -- the cost of digging up the earth to find and get to a faulty pipe, then fixing/replacing the pipe and getting your front yard back looking like it was, well, that's not a chance I was willing to take any longer.

We have our own personal cesspool, no insurance is offered for that where I live (Long Island NY). It backs up at odd intervals. Prior owner had installed a new cesspool, it was great for 20 years, then started backing up about once a year, seemed like always when we were expecting company. We are careful about water use-run the dishwasher once a day, can't take back-to-back showers,and I take laundry to laundromat. We priced a new cesspool, it's about ten grand.Our homeowners insurance doesn't cover backups. And our entire town does not have sewers. Everyone has a cesspool.

For those afraid to make a claim against insurance they've paid for (and are entitled to) then there's no point in buying more insurance--that you're probably going to be afraid to use, also. And my original point was that there's simply no point to paying twice for the same coverage.

We have had to put in a claim on our homeowners, and it was no problem--they were fantastic, actually insisted upon giving us more than we were asking to have fixed AND they did NOT raise our rates because of it.

But putting the use/don't use insurance question aside, --ask yourself this before buying this insurance--WHY would the GAS company offer insurance for something that's not their system at all? And not really their responsibility in any way and truthfully--not in their realm? Think long and hard about that question. My husband worked for our local utility for over 40 years--so we're more on the inside than most of you. Find the REAL answers to those questions (not the ones the company offers for public consumption) BEFORE you give them an extra penny of your hard-earned $$$

Was just discussing this with DH--

He questions: If the gas company employees/representatives mess up the job and your property suffers further damage, will your homeowners then refuse to pay the claim for the resulting damage you might have because using this service negates their responsibility? Good point, and one you might want to look into.

But seriously--find out why NOW the utility companies are looking for extra money--there's a reason--do your research. I know what it is, and why they're scrambling for $$$--do your homework.

azzalea - why don't you just tell us the reason that utility companies are scrambling for money?

I'd like to know too...since you brought it up. :)

As far as insurance - we'd use it for something major, but not minor. Maybe your insurance company is just nicer than ours (farmers). I'd be curious to find out how other people fair. Anybody else file claims and not have an impact on insurance rates?

To replace my waterline from the street to my house was $1300-1400.00 at my expense. Since there was a leak, I had no choice.

I would love to pay a small amount each month to cover, to me, a large expense.

I know the sewer will be my next nightmare.

Like I said I will call and speak to them and get some particulars. Sounds to good to be true, plus want to know why the monthly fee is tacked on to my AEP bill. Doesn't make sense.

Home owner's insurance? Well, like others have mentioned you must have a great policy. Like ShedTheChrysalis, my insurance company - a mennonite owned company - would never even consider coverage of a septic line. It's like pulling teeth to get them to pay even major claims (of which I have had only two in 34yrs.!). But that's besides the point.

I never heard either of an insurance company covering the cost to repair/replace a septic system. I can understand them paying the damage a backed up system might cause in the home, but not repairing or replacing an actual actual system. Do they cover cracks in a basement wall? Cracks in a concrete floor or drive?

I know some telephone companies offers a sort of care package/insurance deal for about $5 a month that will repair or replace your inside wire, or your inside jacks if they are defective. The most that amounts to is very little time, and wire, and jack, performed by one man.

My insurance deductible is $1000 so I'd probably not put in a claim for anything unless it was probably $200o to repair/replace something(s).

I don't know what Azzalea's problem is with utility companies and to be perfectly honest, I don't care, and while her DH may have worked for a utility company and claims to have some inside information, I doubt seriously if he worked for the utility company in question, that being Dominion East Ohio Gas Company (DEOGC).

On the other hand, On three separate occassions DEOGC performed their services at my mothers house while I was there, so I feel that as a retired plumber myself, I too am qualified to assess the performance, and you may rest assured I too asked all the pertinent questions, like why would the gas company repair water & sewer lines?

The reason has nothing to do with the gas company scrambling for money as was eluded by Azzalea. It has to do with Code requirements and union contracts. The gas company primarily installs and maintains the municipal gas lines, however Commercial and Municipal gas lines are not regulated under the plumbing codes, they fall under a separate set of Municipal codes and the rank & file employees that work for the gas company are under the "Pipefitters Union" and they are only permitted to work on the municipal gas lines and the individual service drops from the municipal line to the curb stop shutoff valve.

The gas service line from the curb stop to the structure is regulated under the Plumbing code and you must be a certified Plumber to work on that line. The problem is that in the state of Ohio one only has to complete the apprenticeship and pass the state plumbers exam to become a commercial plumbers. Residential plumbers are regulated by the individual jurisdication, and in most jurisdictions the only requirement to become a licensed residential plumber is to pay an annual fee. As if that is not problamatic enough, in many small communities and in rural areas outside the local municipal district they have absolutely no licensing requirements to be a residential plumber.

The gas company was then confronted with a problem. When they were called upon to install a new gas service they could only make the tap into the municipal gas line and extend the residential service line to the curb stop. From there they had to hire a plumber to run the line to the structure, but they had no way to insure the plumbers were even qualified to properly run a gas line so they opted to hire their own plumbers, but that instantly caused a union dissagreement between the Pipefitters Union & the Plumbers Union. The final solution was that the gas company hired qualified residential & cmmercial plumbers on a permanent subcontract from a local plumbing company. The plumbers remained as bona fide employees of the respective plumbing companies, but they reported for duty directly to the gas company and worked with gas company vehicles, equipment and materials and under the direct supervision of gas company supervisors. That was working out to the complete satisfaction of both unions and all parties concerned, but it was soon discovered that the gas company did not have enough work installing service drops to justify the expense of having separate crews. They then relized the the plumbers were legally qualified to not only install and maintain the gas lines, they were also qualified to install and maintain water & sewer lines so the gas company started the "line Backer" service to insure their plumbing crews would be afforded a steady 40hr work week, thus insuring they could keep the same ppl doing the job.

Now let us compare the gas company service to having the service performed through your homeowners insurance.
From my first hand experience, when you call the gas company they will have an estimator on site within the hour. The estimator examines the job and determines the level of service required, then radios that information back to their dispatchers. The dispatchers then apply for all necessary permits, notifiy "Dig Safe" to come out and mark all utility lines before they commence digging, and the appropriate repair crew is dispatched to the location.
On two occassions when they came to my mothers house they already had a hard copy of the plumbing permit on the truck when they arrived, on the third occassion the repair crew arrived and began unloading their tools and equipment and within a few minutes a pickup truck arrived with their permit.

The crews work out of a large gas company 5 ton crewcab truck with a 20' hard covered utility bed loaded with all the tools, parts and materials to perform the task at hand, and they were pulling a large commercial heavy duty equipment trailer with either a trencher or a backhoe, whichever was required to do the job. In all three instances the job was completed within 8hrs from the time we first called the gas company, and when they did the water line it was on a Sunday.

Having spent over 25 years in the plumbing trade I had many opportunities to do similar work through insurance companies. Generally when you call an insurance company they will send an adjuster out within a day or two to examine the problem. The then take their findings back to the office and discuss whether or not it is covered by the policy. If it is a catastrophic failure its covered, but if the problem resulted from old age, it is a maintenance problem and not covered. Of course it will take them a day or so to make that determination.

The insurance company will then call you and tell you what their determination was and if they authorize the service they will issue you a P.O. number or control number and tell you to go ahead and contact a plumber. You are then left scrambling through the phone book looking for a plumber that can come out within a short time and make the repairs, course that short time may be another 4 or 5 days. No time now to go through the process of checking references, you need the service immediately. To add insult to injury, how many homeowners have any firsthand knowledge of what the code requirements are? Do you feel yourself qualified to judge the quality of the work performed? If the truth be told, most homeowners would not even know enough to insist on pulling a permit and having the job inspected..Oh yes, and did we mention that even if the job is covered by your insurance, you first have to reach down in your pocket and cover the deductable.

So as I said before,,if you happen to live in an area servied by Dominion East Ohio Gas company, in my opinion you would be a fool not to take advantage of it.

Ok - just got off the phone with them. Here's the scoop. Fist of all: they are NOT Dominion East Ohio. The name of their company is just "Dominion". And it says so right on the letter and paperwork I got, that was my mistake. BUT - they are a "sister company" of DEO. Second: the fee is $4.75 (not $4.99 - again my error)and is billed on my DEO gas bill, NOT the electric bill. The rep said that was a huge typo on letters that went out to Ohio customers and apologized profusely. They send out local septic companies but she was unable to tell me who that would be right now. We went over the terms and conditions and I could find no reason - at this time - to not take advantage of the program. Coverage takes effect 30 - 45 days from today and after they receive that first $4.75. We both laughed (well, I did) that I'll probably have a septic problem tomorrow. I can cancel the program at any time without penalty.

All I can do is see for myself how it all pans out. Thanks for all the replies and advice.

Thanks for explaining Lazypup. I wouldn't be able to benefit from this program but I'm sure you helped other people make their minds up.