How much to disconnect your gas supply?

 

When you decarbonise your home by going electric, you can save more money by going off gas completely so as to avoid the standing charge (the fixed annual charge). In my region, this can save up to £115/year but in some places you can save twice as much [1].

To avoid the standing charge you have to get your meter removed. The meter is owned by the supplier and you have to get them to do this – DIY or Fred Bloggs the engineer are not allowed. The supplier charges are highly variable, from £0 to £100s or even more. For example, this story Why does gas supplier charge £486 to remove meter when others do it free? (Guardian) details a charge of £486 to disconnect a Quaker Meeting House.

These charges are a disincentive to changing to a heat pump. Paying the annual fixed charge can tip the balance between paying more for low carbon heating or less. However, paying the meter removal charge adds to the upfront cost which is already steep.

Some recommendations based on actual experience.

I asked my friends (in Transition Cambridge Energy Group) about their experiences of disconnecting. These are all anecdotes and I have omitted names. 

1. Octopus removed the meter for free, no problem. They are renowned for this.
2. British Gas agreed to remove the meter for free but were then very slow to stop the standing charge – my friend eventually resorted to the ombudsmen to get satisfaction.
3. The gas meter was removed for free but the account was still charged at the previous monthly rate for some time. Eventually this was sorted out.
4. A gas engineer cut the supply but told my friend it would cost £2000 to have the meter removed. Fortunately, they checked with the supplier who disconnected them for free on the spot using commands to the meter while they spoke on the phone!
5. My friend approached the gas network instead of the supplier and explained they wanted to remove the meter and cap the gas outside – which was off their property on the street. The network (CADENT) wanted to charge a great deal for this. So they approached the supplier directly and in the following weeks there were  many emails as to who was to do what.  Eventually they did the minimum: the supplier removed the meter and capped the supply inside the property for free.

From this we can learn a few things:

• The meter is the suppliers responsibility but pipes on the street belong to the distributor. Getting the distributor involved complicates things and increases costs considerably.
• Do not believe anything a gas engineer tells you about costs. Go direct to your supplier.
• Examine your bills carefully to check you are not still paying the standing charge. If you are still paying then complain about it promptly and go to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Prices vary between companies because there is no regulation.

It isn’t just Octopus that disconnects you for free but some do charge, especially the smaller ones. For example, it looks as though OVO charges £106 (as of 3 years ago) and SO Energy charges £156. Ecotricity and Good Energy say they will pass costs onto you and goodness knows what that could mean. Note that these charges are for a domestic supply. For business users (as in the Guardian story) you can expect the charges to be higher.

The prices are variable between suppliers because there is no actual regulation on this. There is (or was) some consistency among the Big 6, as reported by OFGEM from a review in 2015 [2]. This includes the following text: 

Text from OFGEM's 2015 review[2]

This text describes practice in 2015; demand has increased since then as demand for heat pumps has grown. The overall cost of providing free meter removal must have increased considerably, creating pressure to charge.

Suppliers have reasons to avoid removing gas meters.

Also there is much in the letter that suggests the suppliers are reluctant to remove a meter: mention of ‘communicating options’ and giving free disconnection only ‘if such action is required’. I can imagine agents being quite persuasive that you really do want to keep the account open just in case. However, £100 or more per year is a bit steep. Of course the gas companies are keen to retain this income as it helps to fund maintaining the network and perhaps also it keeps alive the hope of converting to hydrogen in the future, although there is plenty of evidence this will never happen.

We need regulations, not just current practices.

We need actual regulation on this, for consumer protection and to streamline the low carbon transition. I suggest:

• Suppliers should be allowed to charge no more than one year’s standing charge for the service of removing a meter.
• This should apply to all domestic customers and businesses. Large businesses will have bigger meters and higher standing charges so the costs will be commensurate.
• Where gas use has been zero for a year, customers should be designated Zero Users and standing charges should be waived as long as they remain Zero Users. This leaves open the possibility of resuming gas use which relieves the supplier concern on that score, costs the customer no more than one year standing charge and cuts supplier costs by not having to actually remove the meter. Of course it does mean the safety issues around all gas supplies remain. Also it is only practical with functioning smart meters.

In the meantime, talk to your supplier about avoiding the gas standing charge; do not believe what any engineer says, and do not ask for anything which requires action from the distributor. That will definitely cost you!

 

[1] Get energy price cap standing charges and unit rates by region (OFGEM)

[2] Open letter – Treatment of domestic households that do not use gas (OFGEM) 2015