AIBU to request my gas be cut off entirely

[chickyellowcute]

I don't want to be paying nearly 4k a year just to not be able to afford to actually use it!

I worked out some fairly decent use of electric heaters and my electric shower will cost at least 2k less than just being connected to the gas (the standing charge)

For washing up, I'll use the kettle

So my electricity bill will go up what seems like a bonkers amount but I won't be paying 4k JUST FOR THE OPTION of gas

Is this a thing they let you do? Or do I have to move to a completely unconnected property?

Not sure about your maths but I have a friend who has recently done this for precisely the reasons you have stated. They have an electric shower and a wood burning stove which heats the house so they were only using gas for cooking.

People really need to stop whiping up panic everywhere the way they do because then we end up with people panicking even more and threads like this.

Breath, use common sense and while it's going up... It's till not like that

I believe they have to remove the meter for you to not pay the standing charge.

The standing charge is no where near £4k.

This is exactly how many people- including myself and our family- will be living. We are a family of 4 including 2 disabled people and even with the governments “help” (😡) we still won’t be able to use our heating at all with the upcoming increases.

You’re completely wrong. Those are the figures you would pay for the standing charge AND the gas use assuming “typical” use, not for the standing charge.

Gas is a cheaper way to heat your house than electricity (although yesterdays issue will have affected this)

I'm on a decent fixed rate for electric but variable for gas. We have to use gas for hot water but I'm debating just...not using the gas central heating this year. At all. Our hot water cost is £25 a month right now so even if it doubled, that's £50. Based on Octopus's predictions, I'll use approx £2.3k of gas between Sept and March.

With the huge rises, I'm wondering if it would be cheaper for us to buy a couple of extra electric fan heaters so we have one per room.

I think people used to gas central heating will get a shock when trying to 'just use a couple of electric heaters'.

I say that as someone who lives in an area without gas.

An hour or two of central heating will raise the temperature of the whole house. Two hours of an electric heater will heat one room.... until you open the door.

I turn all heating off on April 1 and don't put it on until October. I run one 0.9kw storage heater in my kitchen/living space and a couple of small heaters in my kids bedrooms for an hour or so a day.
This will cost at least 2k a year by October. It keeps the chill off but it's not warm.
Our proper heat comes from the wood burner.

There are some lower wattage options. I have an infrared panel heater which at 700w is pretty effective and the heat isn't lost so easily by opening the back door. But again, it only goes on a couple of hours a day on the lower economy 10 rate.

Electric heating has its own issues so cutting off your gas supply would seem drastic and the reconnection charge will probably be as much as you save in standing charges.

Generally heating using electric costs more and is less effective than gas central heating. Accepting your house will cold and just heating where you are with an electric blanket for example would save money, but using electric heaters to heat your house won't.

I've just looked at getting gas disconnected. Last year it was around £300 now it's £1600 plus.

Anyone who remembers "That's Life" will have heard endless tales of people with no gas supply being harassed by the gas board (as 'twas).

Not much help, but it shows you can't guarantee not having a gas supply keeps them away !!!!

You can’t really have thought it was four grand a year just to be connected?

What is the average unit cost predicted from October? It went from 4p to 7p in April so I am assuming we are looking at 10p in October? Having issue finding it (might be just lack of caffeine)

Thanks for posting this!! x

You are certainly not right on this. Please look into things properly before taking ant rash decisions

My gas and electricity usage is so low in the summer and now I’m being so careful - I compared bills for this year to last two - and despite rate higher, overall bill lower because I’m being so much more mindful about usage

Our first house (2008 and 90s build, not Ye Olde Olden Days) was electric only and I still have nightmares about the winter bills. It was a very small 2 bed so we only used one storage heater.

OP if you want to do something proactive, look at ways to keep the heat you do pay for where you want it.

Yes heating is going to have to go on less. Look in charity shops for thick curtains. You can always back them onto yours. Get door curtains if you have any that open into rooms. Make draught excluders from old soft toys or pillows.

If you have any spare cash buy winter things now while they are cheaper. I bought a pack of two thick thermal long sleeves tops on Amazon during the heatwave for under £7. They will be double that at least in October.
Thermals, fleecy tops, heavy throws make a real difference so try to get now if you can before they also take a price hike.

A cap means a limit - not a minimum 🙄

A lot of people only have electric anyway (mainly flats but I know lots of small rental houses are the same).

Yes it's freezing when we get home but we have no choice! Although electric heaters heat up a lot quicker than central heating so you aren't cold for long.

l will just refuse to pay it, as a society we are way too complacent, if no one pays it what can they do ?
Yes they can cut me off, good, one less worry to think about, people did actually survive before the introduction of gas.

They would get bailiffs to enter the house and install a pre pay meter. Every time you topped up some would automatically be taken off and out towards the debt. Plus the non payment of debt could lead to ccjs and just mess up your credit rating

This is exactly what I am doing. I bought two electric blankets for £30 in May, they are now back up to £50. I've also just bought 13.5 tog duvets for us all from ASDA, the single ones were £6 each. Buy stuff now whilst it's cheaper.

I appreciate your worry OP. I spoke to Scottish Power this week and the customer services rep explicitly told me the standing charge for gas would be £1200 a year. When I researched it, I realised she was wrong and had meant projected usage, but if even the people working at these companies don't understand the charges, it's understandable to get confused about it.

I do suggest to people that one thing they can do (non apyment is not really option as pp explained) is to look at their direct debits, give readings and not pay some ridiculous DD set price. Even ofgem investigated the super high DDs which don't reflect the real price hike in most cases. Complacement with paying? Unfortunately yes. Complacent about how much you let them "borrow" from you at the moment with super high DDs? Nope

It's not really a solution because only a minority won't pay and will therefore end up worse off in the long run with debt and a crap credit rating.