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Original poster

How much to get a house connected to mains gas?

27 replies

Palomb · 25/10/2015 14:34

We're looking to move at the moment and one of the houses were seen isn't connected to the mains gas. Some of the houses on the estate are but not this one.

To make it a realistic option for us we would have to get it connected. Does anyone have any idea of the sort of costs involved in this?

OP posts:

Sal1977 · 25/10/2015 14:42

We've just done this in the last couple of months and it cost us just under £700. That was with Wales and West Utilities here in Devon. Once you have been connected, your chosen provider will install a meter for you.
Hope that helps?!

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 14:49

Yes that's great, thank you. That is much cheaper than I imagined it would be! How long did it take? Is it just a case of digging up the road and laying a cable?

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howtorebuild · 25/10/2015 14:58

I think you need to contact national grid.

specialsubject · 25/10/2015 15:22

also guessing that it has storage heaters, so will also need the boiler and a complete central heating system. The pipe may be the least of your worries!

your local 'gas board' will give you a rough cost for connecting you up.

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 15:25

Yeah strorage heaters. Awful things! Tbh though, I could just about live with storage heaters for a while but there's no absolutely no way I ever want to go back to cooking with an electric hob.

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ShowOfHands · 25/10/2015 15:28

We did it last December so that we could have central heating put in. It takes quite a while between applying and it being done (around 2 months iirc) and there's lots of information available online if you look at your local gas supplier/British Gas or whatever. You have to apply and they then have a look at your property to assess how much work it will involve, how much and where they will need to dig up, where the meter will need to go, how much work goes into putting things back together (they will re-lay paths and things for you), whether traffic will be disrupted and then they tell you how much it will cost. I think it was around £600. You then pay and it takes a few weeks for them to come and do it. It took probably an hour or so for them to actually fit it. It was very quick indeed in terms of physical labour.

It then cost around £3k to have central heating put in. This was four radiators, a combi boiler, two digital thermostats and all piping underfloor.

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 15:30

That's really useful, thank you :) might ask for a second viewing of the house as I have completely written it of because of this.

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specialsubject · 25/10/2015 15:33

it should be cheaper than the others. Many 70s/80s were built with storage heaters although most will have been replaced by now.

not impossible to live with but gas (oil for us rural types) much easier and cheaper.

ShowOfHands · 25/10/2015 15:35

I've never lived anywhere with gas before here and it was never a priority. We only had it done because DH was knocked off his bike by a dangerous driver and he was compensated for the injuries/months of treatment he needed. His discomfort now keeps us warm in winter!

I'd never discount a house just because of this tbh. Getting connected to the gas if other houses on the estate are already connected is very, very straightforward and storage heaters are perfectly adequate in the meantime.

Don't write it off just because of this. It's easily fixed. We're looking for a new house atm and I've seen one which has no central heating or gas and I really like. Haven't even considered the lack of gas as a problem. Having seen how easy it is to rectify, I don't consider it too much of an issue now. If you can afford to get hooked up, don't let it be a barrier.

IAmAPaleontologist · 25/10/2015 15:46

I wouldn't discount a house wither, there are loads of options for heating/central heating, gas isn't the only option. Our house is solid fuel heated for example, other in the village have electric, oil or LPG as there is no gas to any of the village. If there is mains gas around then as Showy said it is a fairly simple thing to do.

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 16:54

Oh I dunno. I grew up in a house without gas and storage heaters are utter shit and so is cooking on an electric hob. Oil is ridiculously expensive isn't it

Solid fuel sounds ok in the winter but who wants a fire in their house in the summer?

Gas is easy!

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onedogatoddlerandababy · 25/10/2015 17:07

Ah but cooking on an induction hob is soooo much better than gas!

When I bought my house I had transco connect me to mains gas (it was on my essential requirement as cooking on an old style electric hob in my prev house was dire), I paid about £350 to be connected (12 yrs ago) and I never wanted to cook using an electric hob again.

We have since had to replace the oven, and ended up going for an induction hob. It is so much better than gas, so much so that I would happily live somewhere without mains gas.

We also use a wood burner which heats the house up far better than the radiators do - a completely different kind of heat

IAmAPaleontologist · 25/10/2015 17:30

We don't light the fire in the summer as we don't need heating then! Electric shower and a dishwasher cover the rest. Though dh and I go into some crazy bath overdrive at the first hint of autumn .

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 17:46

Don't you have hot water out of you taps? How do you wash your hands and face etc? Is it an immersion tank? My old house had one of those and you'd have to heat water up specifically for having a bath or shower which was an enormous pain in the arse.

How do induction hobs work?

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Mintyy · 25/10/2015 17:51

Showy - I'm really intrigued that you lived without central heating for such a long time! You must be in the 0.01% of families who don't have it in the UK these days. I think I would have to emigrate if I couldn't have gas central heating, I found it horrendously miserable when I was a student.

IAmAPaleontologist · 25/10/2015 18:31

There is an immersion heater and we have a timer switch on it but we tend to just use cold anyway. Every house I've ever lived in even ones with combi boilers the hot water has taken longer to come through than it would take me to wash my hands anyway. If we do use the immersion then we pop it on in the late afternoon for a bit to do enough for a bath for the dc and a load of washing up. You just adapt to what you have really and while I do occasionally harbour fantasies about gas and central heating that comes on with a flick of a switch I wouldn't willingly move village to have mains gas.

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 18:48

I wouldn't be in a hurry to have a combo boiler tbh. I really like our old style boiler with massive hot water tank. I need a proper power shower on the mornings.

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antimatter · 25/10/2015 19:31

I've lived in my house nearly 18 years and we don't have gas just storage heaters.
We are in London and noone in my square of 8 houses and 8 flats has it.

ShowOfHands · 25/10/2015 19:55

Really Mintyy?

My parents don't have central heating, my brother doesn't, my best friend doesn't, neither of my neighbours do either.

Before we had the central heating installed, we used the wood burner for heat (still do actually, we only use the central heating when it's very, very cold), the immersion went on if we wanted a bath (we had no shower then either) and we washed using cold water or boiled the kettle for washing up or similar.

TremoloGreen · 25/10/2015 20:01

Google transco new gas connection. Theres an online tool that gives you a guide price based on how many metres from the supply line you are (an os map pops up when you type in your postcode) For my house it was c. £1000 but there is 25m of private land between me and the road. If it's public land or you just have a normal sized driveway it isn't half as much.

PissPotPourri · 25/10/2015 20:04

My dh is a gas plumber and he says if you have storage heaters it may well be that your are already connected but don't have a meter. Best to check with the gas provider

specialsubject · 25/10/2015 20:18

oil is currently the cheapest form of heating (cost per kwH) and has been for about 2 years.

things change of course.

and gas v electric is marmite - happily got rid of the electric hob last year and now cooking on LPG. Cheaper, controllable, less mess - brilliant.

ChristinaParsons · 25/10/2015 20:22

Depends how far you are from the connection. But the gas boiler and piping for that from where they fit your mains will not be cheap

Isthereeverarightime1 · 25/10/2015 20:29

We are moving to our new house this week and it has storage heaters, we have paid £900 to get the gas connected and £4K to install full new system, the majority of that money is parts which we are buying directly from the company. We are south east.
Best thing to do is get an online quote from your local gas board/ company.
Before we found this place we had discounted houses but we loved this one so it wasn't a deal breaker.
Although we are changing it all in November which will be pretty cold

Original poster

Palomb · 25/10/2015 20:31

I've just done a quite on the national grid site and it says £440 which is nothing really. Of course the rest would cost a fair bit but would be worth it in the long run.

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