Some local homeowners return home after work to find that, without their knowledge or permission, National Grid has installed what look to be miniature gas refineries — that’s what the new gas-meter hookups look like — outside of their homes, often right in front.

National Grid recently turned its back on an effort by community activists, local politicians, preservation groups and civic leaders to negotiate agreeable guidelines for installing the gas meters, which traditionally are housed in the basement. On the outside of a house, such meters reduce property values and the attractiveness of neighborhoods.

Critics of the meters are upset — justifiably so, we think — that without any consultation, gas crews bring a line in from the street and leave a mess of supply-line stubs emerging from the ground next to a house. By then it’s too late for residents to ask that the meters stay in the basement. While National Grid cites safety concerns for moving the gas meters outside, critics of the outdoor hookups assert that that the real reasons boil down to the convenience of meter reading and ease of shutting off service to customers who don’t pay on time.

Whatever the merit of those allegations, outside installation of meters is a safety issue only with high-pressure service, and safety can be assured by installing an innocuous step-down gauge outside so the meters can remain inside. In fact, outside installation has its own safety issues, especially in tight historic neighborhoods where cars might hit meters, endangering houses.

National Grid undermines its own credibility by applying different rules for meter installation in different parts of the city, and for different houses in the same neighborhood. Hint: The company seems willing to bend its rules for residents who threaten to consult their lawyers. So that favors the more affluent of customers.

Relations between utilities and the public they serve are naturally fractious, but National Grid’s selective application of company policy strikes us as unneighborly, to put the best face on it.