Independent Gas Transporters (IGT) 24 November 2004 at 7:28PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Energy 9 replies 3.4K views

MarkP

Hi

I have just received a letter from Scottish Power telling me they are going to over double my daily Gas standing charge from 9.99p to 20.95p because Transco don't pipe the gas to my home but an IGT.  Ironically, my IGT is Scottish Power Gas, so the same company is going to charge me extra for piping my gas itself.

I have voiced my complaints to Scottish Power who have used "sister company" etc as an excuse even though they all come under Scottish Power plc, although they did explain that they couldn't treat their own customers differently to other customers as this would be against competition rules.

What I don't understand is, you can't swap your Gas Transporter company, so surely there should be strict regulations on how much they can charge to ensure everybody gets treated the same.  This must be against competition rules that they can charge you what they want.

Getting to my question, does anyone know of a cheap gas supplier who excepts IGT customers?  I know a lot of companies only except Transco custiomers.  I also don't think any of the energy companison websites take into account IGTs either.  Maybe Martin this is something we could lobby for.

Thanks

MarkP

Splats_2

I too have had this letter. I missed this thread so I have posted a seperate new thread but my Q's are similar. I have spoken with Powergen today. They told me that they do not have seperate tariffs and were suprised that Scottish Power (SP) were charging this extra surcharge, despite what SP say in their letter and told me when I phoned them to register my complaint. Perhaps we should all lobby over this. As Martin has always said, companies act on consumer pressure so register your complaint with SP, then vote with your feet and change suppliers, as I plan to do.

On a slightly different note, when pressed, Powergen told me they would put me onto the old internet price tarriff after I registered with them rather than the new one which comes into force soon, or may already been in place. Note that I was told that their price comparison checker uses the old prices still!

MarkP

Splats,

There is nothing new about this. I had the same probelm in my previous house over 4 years ago. I can tell you that Amerada, London Energy and Virgin Home Energy don't except none Transco custumers on their cheap tariffs, and from what you are saying it looks like Powergen are the same.

As far as finding out who your IGT is, the name should be somewhere on your meter, but if not Scottish Power will tell you if you ask. Their complaints department phoned me back today, and the chap said that they have had lots of complaints, and agreed that it isn't right but it is the system they are working with. He said that IGTs were introduced without the system being fully worked out.

I suggest we all get on to http://www.energywatch.org.uk about this. I am waiting for them to get back to me.

Cheers

MarkP

Splats_2

Energywatch seem to be onto the case. They have released a press release stating that SP stannd to make £5.4million and have called for SP to suspend the price hike. See:

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/media/show_release.asp?article_id=808&display_type=archive

Smiley_Mum

My parents have an IGT (Calor Gas) in Scotland and they currently pay 30.75p per litre for their gas which is certain until the end of this month and then it may go up and then it may not but it will probably go up. They rent the tank from Calor and currently in total pay around £650-£700 per tank (holds 2,000 litres) for their gas on a Direct Debit. No discount given no matter what the method of payment. What is everyone else paying for their gas just now.

jimnutt

Is there any list of the additional charges made by the different companies for supplying via an IGT? It would be very useful for comparison purposes, as none of the comparison sites include IGT tariffs - perhaps this is one for Martin :money:to have a go at?

Premier_2

jimnutt wrote: »

Is there any list of the additional charges made by the different companies for supplying via an IGT? It would be very useful for comparison purposes, as none of the comparison sites include IGT tariffs - perhaps this is one for Martin :money:to have a go at?

The additional charge is about £30-£40 per year (plus VAT).

Currently British Gas and SSE (including Ebico) do not charge their IGT customers the extra. All the other major suppliers do.
(EDF may be even higher for low users (max £70) - they have a complicated charging structure, or at least they did have)

PNPSUKNET

The reason for this is so that builders can get a supply installed cheap, nothing more.

lemontart

2 points calor gas is not an igt if they have a tank the it is lpg not natural gas they use and 2nd Transco do not exist anymore it is National Grid, SCOTIA aka Scotland Gas Networks, Southern Gas Networks and Wales and West Utitilies .

spiro

Smiley_Mum wrote: »

My parents have an IGT (Calor Gas) in Scotland and they currently pay 30.75p per litre for their gas which is certain until the end of this month and then it may go up and then it may not but it will probably go up. They rent the tank from Calor and currently in total pay around £650-£700 per tank (holds 2,000 litres) for their gas on a Direct Debit. No discount given no matter what the method of payment. What is everyone else paying for their gas just now.

The law changed earlier this year so that you can change LPG suppliers and they 'trade' the tank.