BORD GAIS and having the gas meter moved.

Dinarius

The previous owners of our house, in their infinite wisdom, chose to have the gas meter located inside the front wall of the house (i.e. the wall bordering the front garden and the footpath). From there the gas feed runs across the drive (under the gate), along the party wall with the neighbours to the garage door. Inside the garage it runs across the doorway and then along the garage wall to the kitchen. Incredible, but true.

I want either;

a. The the meter be moved to just inside the garage.

or,

b. That a feed be taken from the meter straight up the drive to the garage door. i.e. one stretch of pipe where there are currently three.

I can't allow the current situation to continue because I want to dig up the drive and also use the garage (the garage was (atrociously!) converted by the previous owners and used as a playroom. The gas piping was hidden by a raised floor. It is now exposed.)

This morning someone from Bord Gais distribution called. He said that they had no responsibility for the feed after the meter. So, if I want option 'b' above I will have to get a plumber to do it.

If I want option 'a', I will have to pay €1500. I kid you not.

Is that the price of a company that has no competition whatsoever and has just announced a 25% price rise?

You bet it is.

My plumber says that if we can persuade them that we might convert the garage into a granny flat and require a second meter, then I could go via Sales and pay the flat €250 connection charge.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

I am perfectly happy to fight blatant extortion by any means I can.

Thanks.

D.

ps....This is obviously a Consuming Issues thread, but when I typed Bord Gais into the Search feature, I got a shed load of Gardening/DIY hits.

The Consuming Issues category is sorely underused.

rooferPete

Hi Dinarius,

Perhaps if you hit the wrong button when calling bord gais you could ask "Sales" the procedure for disconnecting your supply completely because you are changing from gas to oil for the better control of your supply.

I know they sub contract any new installations because they use a mole system for installing the new supply from the road to your house, last I heard it was around €400.00 for a new installation.

It might be cheaper to have the supply changed by your own plumber provided of course that he is qualified to work on gas installations.

.

Dinarius

Peter,

Thanks as always.

Yes, my plumber is one of their biggest customers. He does little else except gas installations, in fact.

The thing is, if they do it, they'll use a mole. If he does it, he'll have to dig up the garden. No contest there! ;-)

I may try the Sales route idea.

Thanks again.

D.

lomb

Dinarius wrote:

Peter,

Thanks as always.

Yes, my plumber is one of their biggest customers. He does little else except gas installations, in fact.

The thing is, if they do it, they'll use a mole. If he does it, he'll have to dig up the garden. No contest there! ;-)

I may try the Sales route idea.

Thanks again.

D.

nope im getting gas in and yer man said that the true cost is 83 euro per meter from the gas main. they do it as a subsidy for 250 and after 15 meters the full cost is charged of 83 a meter (the unsubsidesed rate)

to be honest D thats the world for u, in fact what most people dont realise is that modern boilers only last 5 years or so and every 5 years expect to pay 2 and a half grand changing out your boiler never mind the cost of replumbing meters)