Colombia Forum

fecherklyn
Joined 2015
Posts: 1391

7 years ago

Beware, EPM is coming to get you

7 years ago

“No problem” I thought when I received a notification (“Revision periodica de instalaciones EPM Gas Natural”) from Empresas Publicas de Medellin E.S.P – my house had been totally refurbished 4 years ago and all the gas installations were brand new and installed by “personal tecnico calificados”. HOW WRONG I WAS – HERE WE ARE WITH OUR GAS CUT OFF WITH ZERO MINUTES NOTICE.

The EPM invoice for the period 23/08/2016 to 21/09/2016 payable 27/10/2016 (the most recent) warns the following….”Port u seguridad, recuerda que debes contacter a un organism de inspeccion accreditado para realizar la revision periodica de tu instalacion de gas antes del 01/11/2016, Fecha en la cual vence el plazo”. I must admit, we failed to pick up this alert and so we were surprised when the EPM advised us we would receive a “control” visit today.

The inspector (from a contracted company) examined our equipment and finally decided he could not certify it because our gas operated water heater was installed on the outside of our house in a cupboard encased by concrete on 3 sides and a wooden sliding access door. He determined this was risky enough to cut off our gas then and there….no messing about!!

The notification of closure we received states an appeal can be made in “un plazo de cinco dias calendario contados a partir de la Fecha de ingreso de la queja y de diez dias calendario, contados a partir del ingreso de la apelacion”……..meaningless words it seems as the gas was cut before the inspector leaved the premises.

So here we are on our first evening with no gas, which means no hot water and nothing warm to eat as we cook by gas. The repairs will be long and costly as the wooden access door is part of the residence and cannot be replaced, so we will have to open a new access though the concrete wall separating the outdoor cupboard with the indoor kitchen.

I must say I feel pixxed off as a whole series of so called specialists could have warned us about this “risk” - the architect who chose to place the calentador in a cupboard with a wooden door, the approved installer of the brand new heater and the approved technician who performed an annual maintenance check up last year that I do on a voluntary annual basis for all of our domestic appliances.

I fully understand inspections need to be made and corrections made according to the severity. But, was this really such a severe risk that it needed to be closed down immediately without allowing a minimal period for reparations? Just spoke to our maid who had a similar visit a couple of weeks ago. Her inspector found a gas leak in her gas oven and took pity on her by telling her to fix it as quickly as possible.

In some peoples ‘eyes I live in a certain degree of luxury, nothing that would stand out in the USA, or Europe, but “rather nice” for locals in Medellin. It is not the first time I wonder if we expats do not suffer occasional “mischief” from some who have a chip on their shoulder.

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