Independent Gas Transporter Charge

GCH888

Guys

I'm new to this section of the board so please be gentle if this query has been asked already.

I've just switched over to the Powergen Energyonline Extra Saver electricity and gas plan (phew) having been on Scottish Power and Southern Electric before. However Powergen has informed me that because my gas supply is maintained by an independent gas transporter I'll be charged an additional $42.00 (including VAT) every year.

Now I never knew about this IGT marlarky and there was no mention of this additional cost when I used moneysupermarket.com to compare the pricing plans for gas and electricity.

Is this a common thing? Are there companies who may waive this additional cost?

I've got 14 days to change my mind so I would like to know if there are any strategies to reduce or eliminate this IGT charge or if this is common practice and there's not a lot I can do about it.

Thanks!

bill888

I'm in same boat as you. I'm still with ScotPower as it still worked out about the same for me to stay than switching to a supplier that waived IGT charges. I received a letter from SP yesterday reminding me they levy 11.5p a day for IGT.

Unfortunately, most if not all comparison websites don't seem to be able to take into account IGT customers.

As far as I recall when I looked at this issue a while back, only BGas do not levy IGT charge.

EDF will waive the IGT charge if you take dual fuel with them.

SSE (ie. Southern Electric) don't levy IGT charge, but I recall they would levy a System Administration charge of 7p a day for my postcode last year when I enquired about switching to them.

Someone else might be able to confirm whether Atlantic (part of SSE) or Ebico levy IGT charge or system admin charges.

I do recall seeing a webpage somewhere that summarised many of the energy companys IGT charging policies.

If you don't use much energy and your current supplier isn't levying a charge for IGT, you may be better off staying put and keeping quiet ;-)

lisyloo

I am pretty sure that Ebico won't charge extra (because their christian principles mean they treat everyone equally).

However at the moment they may not come out the cheapest.
This is because istead of raising and lowering prices several times a year, they do it once in September.
As others have lowered prices and Ebico haven't (yet) then they may be more expensive than other companies right now.

However if you want a good long term deal, an ethical fair company and don't want to keep switching all the time then they may be a good choice long term.

Their policy of changing once a year means you gain when prices are rising and lose when they are falling. Over the long term I'm sure this evens out.

There are generally good reports of them on this site.

patchwork_cat

Hi
We have and IGT and scottish power will have charged you extra for that, but apparently edf don't. I am in the process of switching to edf, so can't defo say they won't , but they said they didn't. No it makes comparing prices difficult, because some charge and others don't. Do you live in a newish house?

wills34

powergen charge £42 inc VAT. Scot Power charge £42 inc VAT. NPower charge £31.50 inc VAT. Scottish and Southern/Atlantic/Ebcio stopped charging last June. BG don't charge, EDF don't charge for duel fuel. Some sites allow you to select you have a gas igt tariff if they don't simply add the cost above to your price. Powergen are charging you this as an admin charge sot they don'y have to niclude this in your rates. Atlantic would probably be the cheapest for you for gas. Google 'Energywatch IGT charge report June 2006' if you want to view the full IGT report.

tripled

There is a page on energywatch website somewhere, but to summarise:

British Gas & Ebico don't charge extra
Scottish & Southern used to, but don't any more except on some capped tariffs
EDF do charge it, but only if you don't have dual fuel
Powergen do usually, but I believe they have one tariff that avoids it
nPower and Scottish Power charge it on all tariffs

Hope that helps!

fossman

Had the same problem last month when I was switching from EDF.

The IGT charge works out at about £30 a year so do a comparison and deduct £30 from the saving it calculates for you.

We switched to N Power with a calculated saving of £120 so will save £90 a year (also getting £30 cash back for switching with moneysupermarket).