Unmetered gas main decommissioning

circa1665

Hi,

I’m hoping to get some advice or recommendations.

I live in a one bedroom flat in a two story building, the building dates from the late 1970s and has communal heating and hot water.

We are slowly renovating our flat and we're currently working on the kitchen.

There's an unmetered gas pipe which comes out of our kitchen floor, halfway along a stud wall. It exits the floor around 30cm away from the wall, it rises up to around 20cm before doubling back on itself to be 7cm away from the wall it then rises up to 1.7m at which point a large valve/tap (presumably this would have connected to a meter) sticks out a further 25cm from the wall before it continues up through the ceiling to the property above us.

I contacted SGN, as I was initially hoping that the pipework could just be tidied up - to be closer to the floor, snug to the wall, or at minimum that the valve could be removed and capped so that it was not such an obstruction. The property above us has a small endcap on the end of the pipe, where as we have a giant industrial lever type thing. I was disappointed to be told by the SGN guy that legally they wouldn't "touch the internal pipework at all” - is this correct? I was also told that our only option would be to have the main entering our property capped externally (the flat above us which shares the gas pipe is unmetered and the resident is happy for the gas to be decommissioned). I was really taken aback with the quote of £1462 to carry out this work.

My partner has been resident in this property for 7 years, so the removal of a gas meter predates this. I have contacted British Gas to request any record of meter removal, transfer to another provider or when the last billing date for gas was at this address - but I’ve yet to hear back.

The property above ours (which shares our gas main) had their gas meter removed in March of 2022, as far as I’m aware the meter wasn’t connected to any gas appliances.

As I’ve seen this mentioned on other posts on this forum I've looked into: The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, Part C, point 16 (Primary Meters), paragraph (3), sub-paragraph (b) - which states that:

“where the meter has not been re-installed or replaced by another meter before the expiry of the period of 12 months beginning with the date of removal of the meter and there is no such service valve as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (a)(i) above, ensure that the service pipe or service pipework for those premises is disconnected as near as is reasonably practicable to the main or storage vessel and that any part of the pipe or pipework which is not removed is sealed at both ends with the appropriate fitting.”

My basic understanding of this is that if a gas meter is removed and not replaced within 12 months that the “service pipe or service pipework for those premises is disconnected as near as is reasonably practicable to the main or storage vessel” - I interpret that as meaning that the gas main entering the property should be capped. Is that interpretation correct or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

SGN are claiming that the regulations do not apply to Flat 50 as the pipework is “due to be inspected” and in the case of our property: “as no meter has been removed, the extract from the Gas Safety Regulations does not apply in this instance.” Surely there would have been a meter here at some point? Why the hell is there a gas pipe here otherwise? We have a record of the gas meter removal at Flat 50 on 08/03/2022 (which shares our gas main), and I'm trying to find out when the meter was removed from our property - but I have no idea if having a firm date record for the removal of the meter would then make the extract from the Gas Safety Regulations applicable?

We do have an MPRN number which is on a yellow tag on the gas pipe. The tag was only added in 2019 by SGN, when we asked them to check if the pipe was live.

Does anyone know if there’s any kind of time limit on unmetered gas pipes being left in a property? The pipe has multiple threaded joints which I've read elsewhere are potentially unsafe. Is it legal for gas at pressure (potentially very dangerous) to just sit indefinitely in old pipework until it leaks or fails? At which point the resident is liable to pay SGN to have the main capped? That seems rather outrageous.

I don't know if it will amount to anything but have written to ofgem (probably a waste of time). I've also contacted energywatchuk. I'm waiting to heard back from both, I'm hoping for a loophole to reduce or minimise the cost of this as much as possible, the whole thing seems pretty mad.

Thanks for taking the time to read and for any wisdom offered!

Ectophile

My basic understanding of this is that if a gas meter is removed and not replaced within 12 months that the “service pipe or service pipework for those premises is disconnected as near as is reasonably practicable to the main or storage vessel” - I interpret that as meaning that the gas main entering the property should be capped. Is that interpretation correct or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

As near as possible to the main would be in the street, or possibly the front garden/driveway.  If they capped it in your flat, there would still be a live pipe going into the building.

I think the way forward is to ask why it hasn't been done, not to ask them to do it.  Subtle difference, but the former is their obligation, and the latter gives them an opportunity to bill you for the work.