Is it possible to just stop buying Gas, and just have 'no heating'?

hotblooded

I'm a Scottish Power customer for Gas and Electric.
In a flat, rented from a Housing Association, (which is a lot like a council flat).
I wonder if it's possible for me to have the Gas discontinued and not buy Gas from anyone.

I long for those mid-1990's days when my flat didn't have central heating. (I never used the gas fire then, and still don't now).

A couple years ago, my shower was changed so it's now heated via electricity, (no longer gas).

This year, my combined bill (gas and elec) have nearly doubled from usally around £145 per quarter to £250 per quarter.

Something's got to give, and I barely use the gas anyway.
For about seven years now, I only use the gas during the winter.
But could live without it.

My shower is electrically heated (and I can boil the kettle for hot water for the dishes).

All year long, I pay Scottish Power a fortune for gas (standing charge etc)...and I only break down and use the gas very, very sparingly to heat the flat in January, Feb, May (if that)...but I'd barely notice it if the Gas Central heating was gone. And at these current gas prices, an extra duvet and a hot water bottle would be preferable.

I can (only just) afford the newer/higher electricity prices, and I -have- to have electricity...but I can't really afford these current Gas prices...(or both)...

I've done comparisons over the years...and no one offers me a cheaper gas+leccy deal than my current supplier of both, Scottish Power.

I can't make my electricity bill go down, but I know I can get by without any gas...

I wonder if, I can get Scottish Power to disconnect the Gas supply, so they stop sending me bills for Gas...??
And I would just keep buying Electricity from them.
And buy Gas from no one.

Is it possible to just stop buying Gas, and just have 'no heating'?

Can I just phone up Scottish Power, and say: 'I still want to buy electrity from you, but not gas. I don't want to buy gas from anyone. I want to disconnect my gas supply.'....?

dktreesea

Our gas supply is capped. We get a zero bill from Scottish Power every month. You can get a qualified "Gas Safe" engineer to come and cap off the meter and disconnect the supply. You can also ask Scottish Power to come and remove the meter. If Scottish Power are unhelpful, try your local council. They should be able to advise you on the procedure to follow in your area.

CKhalvashi

hotblooded wrote: »

I'm a Scottish Power customer for Gas and Electric.
In a flat, rented from a Housing Association, (which is a lot like a council flat).
I wonder if it's possible for me to have the Gas discontinued and not buy Gas from anyone.

I long for those mid-1990's days when my flat didn't have central heating. (I never used the gas fire then, and still don't now).

A couple years ago, my shower was changed so it's now heated via electricity, (no longer gas).

This year, my combined bill (gas and elec) have nearly doubled from usally around £145 per quarter to £250 per quarter.

Something's got to give, and I barely use the gas anyway.
For about seven years now, I only use the gas during the winter.
But could live without it.

My shower is electrically heated (and I can boil the kettle for hot water for the dishes).

All year long, I pay Scottish Power a fortune for gas (standing charge etc)...and I only break down and use the gas very, very sparingly to heat the flat in January, Feb, May (if that)...but I'd barely notice it if the Gas Central heating was gone. And at these current gas prices, an extra duvet and a hot water bottle would be preferable.

I can (only just) afford the newer/higher electricity prices, and I -have- to have electricity...but I can't really afford these current Gas prices...(or both)...

I've done comparisons over the years...and no one offers me a cheaper gas+leccy deal than my current supplier of both, Scottish Power.

I can't make my electricity bill go down, but I know I can get by without any gas...

I wonder if, I can get Scottish Power to disconnect the Gas supply, so they stop sending me bills for Gas...??
And I would just keep buying Electricity from them.
And buy Gas from no one.

Is it possible to just stop buying Gas, and just have 'no heating'?

Can I just phone up Scottish Power, and say: 'I still want to buy electrity from you, but not gas. I don't want to buy gas from anyone. I want to disconnect my gas supply.'....?

Ask, but I don't think you'll get.

My boiler is turned off completely at the moment = 11p standing charge.

CK

Ken68

Ho Hot...you need to be on a no standing charge tariff. Expensive per unit but zero use means a zero bill.
Ebico but there are other suppliers.

undaunted

I agree with Ken68, all you need is a tarrif without standing charge & then don't use any gas & you will incur no charges - no need to have the supply removed o9r a suppliers "permission"

chris1973

Doing this in a property you own is one thing, doing it in a property you rent is another entirely. Is disconnecting an existing Gas supply going to devalue the property, or make it less attractive to a future tenant when you are no longer living there?, and who is going to foot the bill to reconnect the gas in the future?.

Unfortunately as far as the cost of Electricity and Gas is concerned, "The only way is up" so the prices we have now are going to seem pretty good in five years time, when the rich have gotten richer and turned their 50 acres of land into vast solar and wind farms all paid for by lucrative handouts paid in the form of feed in tariffs gleaned from screwing those already in fuel poverty.

What else are you going to disconnect as prices continue to rise?, because they WILL - just look back over the last five years!!!!.

If you 'barely use any gas' then why exactly is your bill increasing to £250 per quarter and during the Summer?. Assuming your heating is currently off this suggests that its probably your Electricity usage that is increasing and has triggered the recent increase in quarterly payments, and so disconnecting the gas is unlikely to help you, as the standing charge alone for gas isn't going up by £100 per quarter!.

Your best solution is as given above, and change to a non standard charge tariff. No mess, no fuss and no disconnection.

BTW, £150 per quarter, or £50 a month for all year around joint Gas and Electricity is extremely frugal. Have you physically measured your daily Electricity use by reading the meter every 24 hours for a week or so?.

Don't forget that in the last 24 months there have been two rounds of price increases, each time the price increasing by around 20%, so that means bills have increased by between 30 and 40% over this period. Has your present DD been reviewed each time the price increased? or is your supplier simply playing catch up?

libra10

Back in the 50s, as a child, we didn't have central heating, just one coal fire to heat the living room.

In Winter, ice would form patterns on the windows and icycles would form, also pipes would freeze and burst as it became warmer. Everyone would hunch round the fire trying to keep warm, it was freezing!

In theory, we could manage without central heating - we all survived! - but I wouldn't want to go back to those 'good old days'.

rogerblack

Often a bad move!
Go to uswitch, or any other switching site.
Enter 1kWh for your gas usage.
My current supplier for example, gives a 50 quid discount for paying via DD, if you have gas.
They have no standing charge, but a higher per-unit charge on the first gas units used.
If you use no gas, you get a free 50 quid!

Scottish_Power

Hi hotblooded,

Can I have a look at your usage and see if I can help.

please e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Thanks

Marie@ScottishPower

macman

If you disconnect the gas supply, then the HA will undoubtedly bill you for reconnection when you vacate the flat-it's almost certainly a breach of the tenancy agreement.
That's assuming that you haven't frozen to death in the meantime...
Heating by electricity will cost about 300% more per kWh-and how will you heat your hot water?
If your low usage justifies it, just switch to an NSC tariff.

molerat

In deep sub zero winter I can keep my whole house at 20 deg 24/7 plus as much hot water as I can use for the same price as a 1.5kW electric fire for 24 hours (hot water extra !). Often makes me wonder when you see people on the news huddled in front of a massive electric fire because they cannot afford to heat the whole house.