Unoccupied property awaiting rebuild.

tomvar07

Good evening

We have acquired a property in disrepair, needing rebuild. The property is currently unoccupied.
The gas supplier is British gas and electricity supplier is Eon. Though unoccupied, I am getting charged standing charges. I contacted British Gas because Cadent was laying new gas pipes in the region. They have left an unconnected yellow pipe sticking above the ground.
I have told british gas that the property is not supplied at the moment. They suggested, I keep paying the standing charges or removal of meter, which I agreed (thinkin that the rebuild will require new gas meter). But I was told that to establish new connection again will incur charges and pay transport management system. They were unable to give me price for that.

The rebuild will take 18 to 24 months. Would you advice to keep the connection and pay the standing charges (cancel the engineer visit to remove meter) or get a new connection when the rebuild is completed?

Thank you.
Tomvar

born_again

Do you really need a gas supply? Would a heat pump, solar & batteries be a better choice for the property if it is going to be a rebuild?

Might be worth a thought & costings. 👍

bagand96

Work out how much 18-24 months of standing charges will be.  Compare to how much disconnection and later connection will be (or ballpark it if they can't quote now).  Go with whichever is cheapest.

FreeBear

bagand96 said:

Work out how much 18-24 months of standing charges will be.  Compare to how much disconnection and later connection will be (or ballpark it if they can't quote now).  Go with whichever is cheapest.

At current prices, standing charge would be £160-210 for the 18-24 month period. A disconnect & reconnect would be something in the order of £300-400 each. On the back of those (rough) calculations, it would be a lot cheaper to leave the meters connected and live. Just have the gas capped on the consumer side of the meter (they insert a small blanking disk in the fitting coming off the meter).

SAC2334

I owned a second property which was empty for around a year. I switched suppliers to one which had a no standing charge . I believe that Utilita offer a no standing charge tariff . Have a look at that option .They have a steep  charge for the first 2 kw s used daily but in your case you won t  be using any gas .They charge 66 p for the first 2 kwh s electric  you use .

Ectophile

You shot yourself in the foot by agreeing to a standing charge.  Until you actually use any gas, you can't be a deemed customer of British Gas, so they have no right to charge you a standing charge.

But now you have agreed to pay them money, you're must be a customer.

But now you're paying, you're probably better off continuing with it.  The cost of shoving a new meter onto an existing pipe will be much less than digging everything up to lay a new pipe if the old one gets removed.  The cost of the standing charges will be nothing compared with the cost of refurbishing teh whole house.

Scot_39

Will you need gas ? 

Can you actually have gas ?

Does a rebuild count as a new build ?

And therefore fall foul of the c2025 - exact date ? and is it even written into law yet  ? - effective ban on oil and gas boilers in new builds ?  (Via emissions reduction targets)

It's probably more likely to count as a new connection if disconnect now.

And I guess the other question is - how extensive is the rebuild ? - if major does the supply have to be disconnected off site   - to facilitate the planned building works safely.