PROVIDENCE — On a few city blocks in Providence, a dispute between residents and the gas company is playing out that could have implications for homeowners statewide.

In and around Knight Street, National Grid is laying a high-pressure gas line to improve service to the area, which is crowded with vintage multifamily houses and has high gas demand. The existing low-pressure pipe dates to the 1860s.

For safety reasons, and to make inspections and shutoffs easier, National Grid wants to move each home’s gas meter from the basement to the outside of the house. In such a tightly packed neighborhood, that initially meant that many would be placed on the front of houses because access to the sides is limited.

The neighborhood nearly revolted at that prospect; residents want to know why they can’t keep the meters inside their homes. They argued that displaying the meters will sap value from their houses, and could be dangerous if a meter is hit by a car, as several houses have been hit in recent years.

Residents have engaged in shouting matches with National Grid contractors, and in one instance, a police report was filed on an angry resident. The residents have accused National Grid of intimidation, and the company made a public apology at a special neighborhood meeting on the meters last week.

That hasn’t fully quelled the unrest, however, and more might be coming.

National Grid’s long-term plan is to lay 25 miles of high-pressure line next year, according to the company’s rate increase request to the Public Utilities Commission. National Grid has not said where that line would be laid, and the PUC does not require it to disclose where it wants to improve the line. High-pressure extensions are also on the drawing board for each of the two following years, according to the PUC.

When the conflict reached a boiling point two weeks ago, National Grid agreed to halt work until the residents’ concerns were addressed. The two sides are now trying to craft an agreement that would exempt historical houses from having the meters placed outside. Most of the 250 homes in question are part of the Broadway-Armory Historic District.

Many are watching the situation closely, believing that the compromise will set a precedent for the rest of the state as National Grid lays more high-pressure line.

“This is not just a neighborhood project. I’ve received calls from all over the state,” said City Councilman John J. Lombardi, who represents Federal Hill.

State Sen. Paul V. Jabour, D-Providence, has served as an intermediary between the residents and National Grid, and he believes this neighborhood dispute will have implications for years.

“We want to set up a statewide system so that the folks in Newport and the folks in Wickford and the folks in the Blackstone Valley don’t have to go through what you’re going through,” Jabour told the residents at the public meeting Tuesday night.

National Grid spokesman David Graves wasn’t so sure that this situation will arise elsewhere. The houses in the area are unusually close together, he said. Many are so close to the sidewalk that there’s no room for shrubbery or other ways of hiding the meters. Some of the problems that have arisen here wouldn’t happen in a suburb, or even in other parts of Providence, he said.

“It has to do with the layout of the neighborhood, the proximity of one building to another,” he said.

Graves said the company plans to meet with all residents individually to discuss where their meters will be placed, and is open to having the meters on the sides of the houses when possible.

Many parts of Rhode Island are already served by high-pressure line, including most houses built recently. Coventry, for instance, is almost totally high pressure, while Warwick is half and half, according to National Grid’s Dennis Houston.

Much of Providence remains on the low-pressure line, as do some of the other urban areas of the state.

National Grid upgrades low-pressure line to high-pressure when it becomes clear that the old pipe is no longer serving the needs of the neighborhood. The low-pressure line funnels gas to homes at several pounds per square inch; the high-pressure line operates at 90 pounds per square inch, Graves said.

A regulator is placed outside the home to knock the pressure of the gas down from 90 pounds to single digits as it travels into the house. National Grid said it wants the meters and regulators outside the homes because if a high-pressure line were to leak inside a house, it could be extremely dangerous.

Beyond the safety concerns, there are secondary reasons why the company wants to move the meters, Graves said. National Grid must check the meters for all 245,000 Rhode Island customers every three years, and getting inside houses is often difficult. In addition, in multifamily homes where one unit may be behind on its bill but the other units’ payments are up to date, the company can have a tough time getting inside the building to shut off an individual unit. As a result, the company must often leave gas on in units where the bills are not being paid.

Knight Street resident Jessica Jennings has led the neighborhood’s opposition to National Grid’s proposal, and said that despite the company’s apology Tuesday, the residents are not happy with the answers they have gotten from the company.

“People are totally dissatisfied and felt that National Grid was evasive,” Jennings said.

She sees major implications for the rest of the state, and has contacted historical societies in Newport, Bristol and Westerly, both to see what their experience with meters has been, and, in Newport, to discuss an ongoing National Grid project.

A small committee of residents, politicians, historic preservationists and National Grid officials may start meeting this week to try to hammer out an agreement for the neighborhood. Another public meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23. National Grid reiterated that it won’t start work until then.

dbarbari@projo.com