Leaving the National Grid

Dream-scape

I may soon be in a position to leave the national grid.

I run my own business and will shortly have a diesel generator capable of supping all my electrical needs at a fraction of the cost. Combined with red diesel and cooking oil from my fryers my monthly spend should be around £150 - £200 instead of the £2500+ BG are currently charging me.

Before I do this are there any legal implications to leaving the national grid, i.e will British Gas try and stop me, or are there any conditions or licenses that I may need to meet?

dogshome

Hmmm - How you go about getting dis-connected from the Grid I've no idea
( Unless that is you in for serious meter tampering and fraud )

But the Jenny figures versus BG's billing only seem believable if you are being really stuffed on the prices BG are chargeing you on your Business supply contract..

I would guess from your post that you own the premises, the re-sale value of which would be seriously diminished if there is no Elec. supply - Maybe better to pay the Daily Service Charge to have a working meter meter as insurance when the jenny breaks down.

Even so, BG will take some convincing that you are not useing any power, so be prepared for a fight

Bigphil1474

You might find it difficult to get a competent electrician to do a proper job of connecting your generator up to the premises. If you don't get a competent electrician you risk being prosecuted - we have prosecuted a few premises (under Health and Safety law) for doing a bodge job of replacing mains electric with a generator after getting disconnected by their supplier. Your local council may have an issue with noise nuisance depending on the generator location if it's outside, and there aren;t many which are much cop to use indoors without risking serious harm to health. Other than that, it should be no problem. In relation to maintaining your current supply, could you get a contract for usage only? which would basically mean nothing to pay as your meter wouldn't be moving. So far as I know, its nothing to do with British gas, i think its National Grid who you may need to speak to. Can't remember the details but I think there's a point on your system which you aren't authorised to let anyone mess with (up to the meter from the outside).