Gas Meter Is Utility-Owned — You Maintain Downstream
Claim: The gas meter is FortisBC’s property. Your responsibility begins at the first fitting past the meter — the gas line into your home. This single boundary determines who calls whom for every gas problem.
Mechanism
FortisBC supplies, installs, and owns the meter. When you open a gas account, you are a customer of the distribution system — the meter is a billing and safety device the utility places on your property, not an appliance you own. FortisBC maintains everything up to and including the meter: the service line from the distribution main, the meter body, the regulator, and the meter’s upstream shutoff.
The owner responsibility line sits at the first fitting or valve on the house side of the meter. From that point, the house line running into your home — and any gas line running to a detached structure, pool appliance, or outdoor heater — is yours to maintain through a licensed gas contractor.
In a strata, the layer is more complex: the pipe that runs from the meter through the building may be common property (if it serves multiple units) or owner property (if it serves only your lot). The strata plan and bylaws determine which.
Why it matters
The ownership boundary tells you who to call for any gas problem:
- Meter damage, meter leaks, regulator issues, or no gas supply → call FortisBC (1-800-663-9911 or 1-888-224-2710). Their equipment, their fix.
- In-unit line leak, appliance connection, valve on the house side → call a TSBC-licensed gas fitter. Your equipment, your responsibility, but always with a licensed contractor.
- Never attempt to work on or past the meter — the meter is utility property and tampering is both illegal and dangerous.
Scope
This note covers the meter-ownership line for FortisBC natural gas customers in BC. It does not cover propane systems (tank-and-line ownership differs by supplier contract), commercial metering, or scenarios where a building sub-meters internally.
Idea Compass
North: Where this comes from
- gas-meter-shutoff (Home Systems) — the component note this idea anchors
- FortisBC gas line maintenance guidance — the primary source for the utility/owner boundary
East: Tensions / failure
- gas-lines (Home Systems) — the owner-side gas line downstream of the meter; confusion about where responsibility starts often leads to owners calling the wrong party
- Strata complexity — in a multi-unit building, “downstream of the meter” may still be common property if the line serves multiple lots
South: Where this leads
- vendor-roster (Home Systems) — FortisBC emergency line vs licensed gas fitter; knowing the line tells you which card to pull
- insurance-warranties (Home Systems) — who is liable for a gas line failure depends directly on whose line it is
West: What’s similar
- electrical-panel (Home Systems) — the same meter/owner line exists for electricity: BC Hydro owns the meter and service entrance; you own the panel downstream
- emergency-shutoffs (Home Systems) — the water main has the same utility-vs-owner boundary at the municipal curb stop