£1,500 to cap Gas supply I don't need!

StevenBlakemba

Help please, I moved into a bungalow which has a gas and electric mains supply. I haven't used gas and have installed a Air Source Heat Pump, so will never use gas again. The Energy supplier wants to charge me for the gas standing charges or I have to pay £1,500 to have the Gas supply capped off in the road. This is disgusting, having to pay monthly charges for something I don't want supplied or the extortion of £1,500 for the capping that they demand I have to stop the monthly charges. The people who cap the mains off are a monopoly so think they can charge what they want. Suggestions please of how to get out of this! 

MWT

StevenBlakemba said:

Help please, I moved into a bungalow which has a gas and electric mains supply. I haven't used gas and have installed a Air Source Heat Pump, so will never use gas again. The Energy supplier wants to charge me for the gas standing charges or I have to pay £1,500 to have the Gas supply capped off in the road. This is disgusting, having to pay monthly charges for something I don't want supplied or the extortion of £1,500 for the capping that they demand I have to stop the monthly charges. The people who cap the mains off are a monopoly so think they can charge what they want. Suggestions please of how to get out of this! 

Who is your supplier?

Have they given you any detail of how the £1,500 is split up?

As long as you have a meter there is a standing charge, so you do need to get the meter removed to avoid the charge, but it doesn't normally cost £1,500 to get that done...

[Deleted User]

If your supplier is asking Cadent to do the work then their charges are very high. I know that Octopus has been removing gas meters from free for some of their customers. I am not sure how this would work for someone who has just switched across: even if this is possible in today's market.

plumberpaig

I doubt this can be the case. I would call again and speak to someone else, you will often find a different answer. I am aware of gas supply contracts with no standing charges, so you pay for the gas that you use, so that is a last resort. There shouldn't be a standing charge if you get them to cap your gas meter off inside the property. A normal gas engineer can do that as well but if you get the supplier to do it then it all links in with them and they should not charge you anything. I've just called a gas engineer friend of mine who is retired and he echoes what I have stated above.

QrizB

You've two options:

1. Keep the supply and pay the standing charge.
2. Pay to have the supply removed.

Removing the supply is a two-stage process; removing the meter and capping, then isolating the supply pipe. Removing the meter is usually £100-£200 (this varies between suppliers) but the cost of removing the pipe can be significantly more.

An example of the cost for isolating (or removing) the pipe can be seen here (page 9):
https://www.sgn.co.uk/sites/default/files/media-entities/documents/2022-02/SGN-Connections-Services-Charges-April-2022-Southern.pdf

MWT

plumberpaig said:

... There shouldn't be a standing charge if you get them to cap your gas meter off inside the property. A normal gas engineer can do that as well but if you get the supplier to do it then it all links in with them and they should not charge you anything. I've just called a gas engineer friend of mine who is retired and he echoes what I have stated above.

Just capping isn't enough, the meter does need to be removed and that has to be done through the supplier, you can't just employ your own engineer to remove a meter.

All suppliers (other than possibly Octopus) will charge for a meter removal, but not usually £1,500...

QrizB

plumberpaig said:

I doubt this can be the case. I would call again and speak to someone else, you will often find a different answer. I am aware of gas supply contracts with no standing charges, so you pay for the gas that you use, so that is a last resort.

There are no current zero SC gas tariffs on offer, and there haven't been any for at least six months.

plumberpaig said:

I've just called a gas engineer friend of mine who is retired and he echoes what I have stated above.

Retired engineers rarely understand the current rules or situation.

sav0

I had my gas meter removed in october last year by EDF cost £80 like you I have nothing that uses gas and use an ASHP 

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

plumberpaig said:

... There shouldn't be a standing charge if you get them to cap your gas meter off inside the property. A normal gas engineer can do that as well but if you get the supplier to do it then it all links in with them and they should not charge you anything. I've just called a gas engineer friend of mine who is retired and he echoes what I have stated above.

All suppliers (other than possibly Octopus) will charge for a meter removal, but not usually £1,500...

British Gas were (and still are) removing gas meters without charge before Octopus existed

https://twitter.com/BritishGasHelp/status/423839813125435394

bristolleedsfan

Rik on Twitter: "@cuthbertneil @janrosenow @SGNgas Top tip: get energy supplier to remove gas meter (some will do it for free, eg British Gas & Octopus). Do not inform network co. In 18 months or so, network wil contact you and should remove the pipe at their cost. (My learning from London with Cadent)" / Twitter

J_B

The 'man in the pub' said that he reported that he could smell gas one weekend and someone came out and removed the meter and capped off the supply to make it safe.