Re: Switching Gas - not piped by Transco 1 August 2003 at 8:44PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Energy 5 replies 4.5K views

pakman

Original Post:-

Both here and at my previous address I have had problems switching gas supplier because my meter and pipes are not owned by Transco, but by a different gas carrier. This has meant delays and an increase in tarriffs from my new supplier stopping it being worth while trying to switch.

Has anyone else has this problem, and if so, who have you ended up changing to?

Also, I'm surprised the companies can get away with this, I would have thought it was against the competition rules. I contacted the watchdog about it but they didn't seem interested.

Any ideas??

Answer

If your MPR starts with a 74 then you are on an IPGT.

The MPR, is the Meter Point Reference, unique to each pipe that enters a property. An IPGT is an Independant Public Gas Transporter.

For a company to supply a Transco piped house they pay a fee, this makes up your normal charges.  But for them to supply the last length of the pipe via an IPGT they have to agree to the Transporters terms, and pay for the usage.

This means that as you say most don't think it's worth it and refuse, others i.e. Npower charge you an extra £30 a year for an IPGT site.  

Knock them we do, but British Gas take the charge them selves and you get the same price regardles of whether its Transco or an IPGT.

Remember that in an emegency it's always 0800 111 999 that you call. regardless of IPGT or Transco, or bill provider.

Who is UR IPGT ?

MarkP

Hi Pacman,

Thanks for the info, it explains a lot.

My IPGT is Scottish Power Gas. To get around the problem I've switched to their online tariff which is very competitive, but not quite the cheapest.

MarkP

pakman

Hey wot happened to the 1st part of this 'thread' ?

R U being censured MarkP ?

MarkP

No Pacman, I entered it as a guest so my email address was revealed to the world, so I asked in the Technical section for them to remove my address, and they needed to removed the whole message instead.

MSE_Moderator

With the software available to me it was only possible to remove your email address by removing your post.

tunneller_2

I have exactly the same problem. ANd this is in the nam of competitiveness? In Warwickshire our pipeline provider is/was AGAS developments (taken over now?)and I received the following from AMERADA:

Thank you for contacting us regarding the difficulties you have encountered in switching your gas and electricity supply. I understand from your email that you are not on the Transco gas network but on a different gas pipe network. This is a rare occurrence and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.



Amerada is unable to supply your particular network as it is supplied to by the Transco Network who supply the majority of the nation. The main problem here is that the cost of Amerada supplying gas down another pipe network is charged at a greater cost to them then by the Transco network. This in turn causes Amerada to raise their Gas charges for supplying on your network.

My advice in this case is to pick another supplier to switch to apart from Amerada and contact them directly. Access our site again, take note of the options after Amerada and pick your next best supplier. Once you do this you can contact that particular supplier and ask whether they have the ability to supply your particular network. This way you can get a supplier you want and who will supply you with Gas at a cheaper rate.

A British Gas chap came cold calling one day & suggested that the higher price had expired? but never came back to try & get me to swap.

???