Bord Gais Connection Delay

jcbilko

I applied to connect to the Bord Gais network on 16/02/2007. I understand it normally takes ~3 weeks. However BGE informed me about three weeks ago that they needed to get a Road Open licence from Dublin City Council.

On the street my neighbours on either side have a gas connection and the gas pipeline passes directly in front of my house. When I rang BGE last week I was informed that Dublin City council were no longer issuing any road opening licences to BGE. I rang DCC to confirm and they said they were not issuing any road open liceneses to BGE as they were not meeting DCC Health and Safety requirements. I could get not definite date for resolution from BGE or DCC. I am very concerned about the delay as it is costing me and if there are genuine H&S issues I would be doubly concerned.

I was due to move back into the house following renovation on 17/04. However this delay means that the flooring cannot go down etc..and the renovation completion date is moving out pro rata as a result of the BGE delay.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with BGE? Is there any suggestions for what could be done to sort out the issue between DCC and BGE?

jaggeh

its not a H&S issue. one of BG contractors was doing extra work without waiting for the licences. so they have to complete all reinstatement work before DCC will issue any new licences. BG have been trying pretty much daily for them to issue licences.

There is no way for you to influence this other than to apply pressure to the council as they have final say in the matter.

The letter you receive once you make a payment does warn you about potential delays due to council licencing.

antoinolachtnai

This delay shouldn't stop your gas installation within the house from proceeding.

Surely you can install a pipe within the premises? and then have it connected to the gas main when it finally arrives? Or Maybe you can get the builders to leave a duct that the gas board can install into later?

Of course you will have to get the boiler guy back to commission everything when the gas has come in.

Maybe there is some safety issue that prevents this from being done (though I doubt it).

jaggeh

certainly all work inside can be completed and you can have someone lay ducting, but the delay isnt on that side and im sure hes probably already got that done.

i think fingal and DLRCC are the only areas allowing new services in dublin atm. but we havent been given an update.

jcbilko

Thanks for all the replies..

>> one of BG contractors was doing extra work without waiting for
>> the licences.
I guess that could correct..When I rang DCC I was sure they mentioned H&S issues with BGE. They may consider breaching the T&C's of the licence a H&S issue. If an individual contractor was the issue why could DCC/BGE not have fined/sanctioned the individual contractor rather than target all BGE Customers who need to get connected. I dont know the full background or history of the dispute but it would seem DCC have adopted a fairly extreme approach if only a single contractor was involved.

>> The letter you receive once you make a payment does warn you
>> about potential delays due to council licencing.
I would expect potential delays to be the exception not the rule. The delay applies to all connection requests and I think that is unacceptable. My own connection request is very standard one.

The boiler and piping work for the underfloor heating work inside is completed and the builder says he is just waiting to connect up to the mains gas. I understand because it is underfloor heating, the tiling and floorboard cannot really be put down until the system is tested and working.

I did raise a complaint to both BGE and DCC. BGE have contacted me twice and given updates since. They indicated in the last contact that they hope to have it sorted with the DCC by week ending 20/04. There has been no response or updates from Dublin City Council other than the initial general acknowledgement of receiving a complaint.

For now all I want to do is to come in from the cold!

jaggeh

part of the problem we are having is whenever we schedule a meeting with the council someone doesnt turn up and it gets canceled. this happened three times, so thats 3 wasted weeks.

Not all BG contractors are affected but the one that isnt doesnt have to lift a finger because its outside the parameters of their contract.

We have 'chastised' the offending contractor, but there is little else that can be done until the council starts allowing work again.

it doesnt help that next week is builders holiday. summer is usually very slow for us and i expect were going to be busy till the end of the year now

i actually train the guys and gals who acknowledge the BG complaints (when im not doing them myself)

jaggeh

as of today the dispute has been resolved and work is going ahead.

there is a backlog of over 100 jobs and the contractor is only able to do 6 of these per day, so its going to take another 4 weeks or so to clear it out.

give us a call asap and i will see about getting you squeezed in the first lot.