IGT Domestic standard charge

greigc

Just wondering if anyone knew anymore about this charge.

We moved into a new house 14 months ago and appear to be paying this charge. We never had this charge at our last house and it seems to be £20 a month.

Scottish Gas have said its the builder getting his money back, but the builder has already been paid for putting in the gas/electricity supply, according to Scottish Gas.

Scottish Power say its Scottish Gas thats charging us this amount, and to top it off accordint to Scottish Gas noone else in our street is paying this charge.

I'm confused about where to get help on this, as who do I believe, and what can I do about it?

Jonni2bad

I've just come across this while switching from Scottish Gas to nPower.

The prices quoted were substantially cheaper, but then we got a phone call from nPower telling us there would be a £30 charge relating to the pipework!!

I called back later to clarify what this charge was for. I was told that if your property has gas pipes that are NOT managed by Transco, then the 'owner' makes a charge every time the supplier is switched, this charge is then passed on to the customer.

We apparently live in an area where the pipework is controlled by a company called EPS. However, I switched from Powergen to Scottish early last year and no charge was ever discussed or made.. The nPower rep was not able to tell me if we would be charged or not, and if so how much or in waht way they would pass on the charge (lump sum or in the monthly payments). In short, it was a bit farcical.

Looking at your post, you said there was a £20 per month charge. Are you sure it's not a one-off?

nPower have still not clarified their position re this charge, but if they do now say I will have to pay it, then I will not be going ahead with the switch - unless they are prepared to waive it....

Bargain_Claire

I just tried to switch to npower at our new house (after using Martin's top cashback site) and now they have told us the pipes are owned by an an independent gas transportation company (IGT). Instead of a one off charge, all our gas, per kWh, will be more expensive (3.547 instead of 2.980p for the first 4572 kWh/year).

Anyone know how you can put this info into the price comparison websites so we might get a better deal?

shirlyn

I moved into my house in January and recently tried to change for scottish power to powergyn. They said I'd have to pay £42.00 per annum for the IGT charge.

Scottish power has never billed me for this.

Bargain_Claire

Just been phoning round this morning on some of the closest competitors, powergen told me the £42 p.a. thing too. Maybe your pipes are owned by Scottish so they don't make an additional charge? Or maybe you are unknowingly paying a higher rate like npower want to charge me?

Anyone know if there is a way we can find out who owns the pipes and if there is a company that has an agreement with them. I'm quite annoyed that this extra charge for certain properties seems to be hidden from us before you move in...

Altarf

The additional charge for IGT customers is iniquitous, but don't expect the regulator to do anything about it. After all they still allow the energy companies to quote prices without knowing whether the customer is IGT or not.

There are three ways to find out who your IGT is:
- Look at the back of your gas bill and their details will be shown there.
- The first few digits of the Meter Point Reference (MPR) are specific to each IGT, and there is a list of which belongs to who here http://www.energylinx.co.uk/independent_gas_transporters.htm
- Look at the name on the meter (although many companies have been taken over and the name on the meter may no longer exist).

The reason for IGT is that developers of new houses can get the gas main put in cheaper by the IGT companies than Transco, probably due to the £30-£50 a year they will collect for ever from the house owner. This is what needs to be investigated by the regulator.

There are still some companies that don't (or claim not) to charge for IGT customers. I recently swapped to EDF as they claim not to charge (although their other companies like London Electricity do), although I have yet to receive the first bill to be sure.

suse142

This is my first post so be gentle if i don't get it right. I own a new house serviced by an IGT. I ONLY knew of IGT's once i decided to swop energy suppliers and came across the extra daily service charge that Scottish Power charges (new house builders do not tell you about this). At the moment SP charges me approx. 21p/day service charge but as far as i know i pay the standard tariff per unit of energy, the same as everyone else does.
Today i phoned Npower to ask them about their IGT charges and was told it's a standard £30+vat charge per year with no standing charges for anyone (unit price is more than Alantic though), Alantic charges 7.5p/day on top of their normal service charge of 10.42p/day, costing £68.67/year (including VAT @5%).
Price comparison services take no account of IGT prices so you can't use them efficiently, they're useful for calculating discounts etc. but phone them to check out the IGT charges. I did try that this morning with one company listed on Simplyswitch but she had no idea about swopping suppliers or IGT charges so i gave up on the phone and applied online anyway. Once i get the paperwork i'll phone them to check the IGT charges and cancel if necessary.
I've known about this for about a year and emailed Energywatch and my MP as i was/am incensed about paying more but you get nowhere with them. I was told this morning that it's Transco that makes the extra charge but who knows. Ideally comparison sites should offer a service for customers with IGT's.