Getting rid of gas supply?

[arg]

I am doing a major refurb/insulation of my house, and when complete will switch from large hungry gas boiler to a small ASHP, so will have no further need for gas.

 

Currently I have a normal gas meter, in the standard type of white cupboard though mounted on the inside wall of what is now an open front porch, but the porch is about to be enclosed so it will become internal.  It's also a prime piece of wall for things like the solar PV inverter.

 

I have read that getting the gas properly disconnected has significant cost (they dig up the street).  It  appears that having the meter removed but the supply pipe left in place is also an option.  Some sources even suggest that it's cheaper to keep the meter due to dual-fuel tariffs being cheaper (though this sounds unlikely).

 

Any views/experience?

[Simplysimon]

i asked for elec and gas connection, had a bill for £400 odd a few months later for gas, contacted to say it wasn't connected to house as it was still being built. was told 'well there is the standing charge' sod that, take the meter out, didn't ask for one, just a connection. will you want it connected within a year, 'oh yes says i', probably won't. it was quite cheap to put the gas in, 'just in case'.

[Ferdinand]

I don't see why they would need to dig up the street, unless someone was going to dig excavations.

 

I had one where the people I had sold it to were doing that, but they were turning the house into a side road ? .

 

Phone up the supplier and ask for the cost of having the meter removed. It should not be that bad - guestimating somewhere between zero and a couple of hundred.

F

Edited February 29, 2020 by Ferdinand

[joe90]

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4173099/how-to-get-meters-removed-and-supplies-capped
 

some info, hope it’s relevant ?

[Vijay]

would just moving to a supplier with no standing charge work? (if they exist)

[Bitpipe]

Unless you're demolishing or doing works that could compromise the network gas pipe to the meter, you're probably ok having the meter removed and leaving the supply intact but capped.

 

From memory, my plumber (who did the regular gas service) disconnected everything from the consumer side but I can't recall if it was him or the network that disconnected the meter itself - think it was the network guys.

 

As we were doing a full demo and basement excavation, we needed to pay a fixed, non contestable £1500 to have the supply terminated at the boundary - not great VFM as they were only here for about an hour to used a pneumatic hammer to dig up the pipe in the street, cap off and reinstate the road surface. 

 

The supply co (think it was SSE) came to collect the meter later to enable the account to be closed off.

 

Then we did it all in reverse to reconnect the gas post build but it was much cheaper as new connections are subsidised and we laid our own duct for the gas pipe.

 

Now, the groundworker who did the basement build did say that there were people who would do the boundary disconnection for a few hundred quid cash in hand but it is illegal and there are big fines if caught, never mind the safety and liability issues if not done properly. 

[Bitpipe]

Also, from memory, the gas pipe pressure is relatively low. The crew I had cut the yellow plastic pipe off at the meter and just stuck a blob of black gunk at the end while they located the pipe in the road. Similar process there but they secured it with some kind of metal compression joint / screw cap.