Disconnecting from the Gas Grid in the UK

[@richardsandwell2285]

Well done, what a massive triumph over the greedy energy companies. I did the same in 2012 and in 2023 I finally did the same with the electricity meter, they bring it on themselves with their standing charges. In any other walk of life you only pay for something you use.

[@mikepepler]

Thanks! 🙂 I'm interested how you sorted out your electricity? We have solar panels and a battery off-grid, but it's not sufficient over the winter, so the mains is used for top-up then.

[@Sir-Dexter]

same ...Disconnecting from the Gas Grid...standing charge is over £100 ....

[@michaelchallis2437]

Don't like to disappoint you but you wood burner produces more pollution than your boiler as wood also burns as does gas, and as someone else has stated your property is still connect to the system. Oh and lastly I think your earth wire is wrong as the supply to your property is plastic , so there is no earth return via that route and only needs to be on the gas outlet.

[@mikepepler]

On the earth, the engineer did comment it was a bit pointless but he had to do it anyway. Our earth is actually from the incoming mains cable sheath, as installed by UKPN. I find this thing about the property "still being connected" an odd point. There's a pipe on our land that has gas in if, but it doesn't enter the building, and I hope SGN will eventually remove it entirely. As for pollution, we haven't had a gas boiler for well over a decade, my point was about getting rid of indoor air pollution from the gas hob. Our chimney draws well, so we don't get any indoor air pollution from the stove. Outdoor air pollution, yes, but we're in a rural area so it's not seen as a big issue here, lots of people burn wood. My main reason for burning wood is to be self sufficient in supplying our own energy, and to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

[@ironwoodjones8599]

Hi I have wanted to do this to we to have a woodburner that provides all our heat like you and it's crazy that we pay more for the standing charges than we do for the gas used !! . I would like to ask if there was there any cost from your gas supply company and did they give you any problems other than the form filling? well done for doing it ps. who was your supplier ?. many thanks Andy

[@mikepepler]

Hi Andy. We're with Octopus, they made it all very straightforward, just a couple of emails and a phone call, no charges. I don't think they're allowed to charge, though I guess some fixed term tariffs could have an exit fee. It was a subcontractor who did the actual work, they were efficient and polite. The only cost I'd not anticipated was that because we removed a gas hob but didn't install a new one, we had to pay about £60 to the installer to cap the gas off, which seems pointless as it was being disconnected a week later. I guess we could have had it disconnected first, and used alternative cooking arrangements until the new hob was installed.

[@ironwoodjones8599]

@@mikepepler Thanks Mike

[@sixpotshot]

You are still connected to the grid in spite of the meter's removal. To disconnect your property from the grid the mains run by a different company) will have to be disconnected as right now they are still going into your property.

[@mikepepler]

SGN will get in touch in 12 months, at which point the MPRN will be deleted from their database and they *may* remove the pipe. But they might leave it there. There's no gas in any pipes in the house now, it stops at the capped pipe.

[@angzarr9584]

gas is cheaper than power?

[@mikepepler]

Yes, but as we only used gas for the cooker hob, our annual bill was about £107 for the standing charge and about £10 for the actual gas. Add to that the fact that a gas hob is about 40% efficient at heating food, while in induc hob is about 80%, and we end up with around £100 saving per year. We didn't use gas for anything else, heating is from wood and solar.

[@angzarr9584]

@mikepepler fair. Standing charges are criminal

[@mikepepler]

I hope the standing charge is done away with soon, but there will need to be a social tarrif introduced at the same time, as the unit price will go up. Otherwise, some vulnerable households will be worse off, eg those on a low income stuck in an inefficient rented house that their landlord won't improve.

[@andyash5675]

You can always have a propane tank installed when the electricity stops coming.

[@mikepepler]

No need, we have several acres of woodland, so an endless supply of logs.

[@andyash5675]

@@mikepepler Yes, I believe there are efficiency gains to be had if you gassify the wood, and store the products. You get the charcoal and, the best part of the energy doesn't go up the chimney. It's a good scheme. I'm sure the logs will keep you warn, but there are only so many, even in several acres. If you gassify then you can store the limited resource and use it frugally for the forseable future. If you gassify then several acres could last a small town indefinitely, especially with coppice. You could even trade energy for food.

[@mikepepler]

Gasification is indeed great! I made a video this summer about a charcoal kiln that gasifies the wood so that once it's got going the charcoal conversion process is fuelled by the woodgas rather than any other fuel. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHLTdKaXmshlqdUfeature=shared I've mainly seen gasification used in biomass power generation, but I used to have a TLUD gssifier stove (Top Lit Up Draught) kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGfIp4asjq2SiKMfeature=shared that video is from 15 years ago!! 😱 Have you seen a domestic stove that uses gasification?

[@andyash5675]

@@mikepepler I believe if you look you will find people have built gassified turbogenerators from automotive turbochargers. You can cook your BBQ whilst illuminating the patio with electric light. Don't waste that wood though. It's a lot more finite than the natural gas that comes out of the pipe. If you have the kit at home you can make electricity from natural gas cheaper than you can buy electricity. That way you don't need to burn your woodland until you need to. Britain used to be a forest nation. I wonder where all the trees went?

[@mikepepler]

Yeah, the trees went to make charcoal to make iron. We're cutting coppice slower than it's growing back though, so we're OK for the moment.

[@hariowen3840]

That method of disconnection absolutely screams the potential possibility of abuse eh! (Not suggesting that you would in any way consider that of course.)

[@mikepepler]

Indeed, trivially easy to reverse, though completely illegal. We have no gas-burning appliances any more, so would be glad to be rid of the pipe too.

[@mikexkennedy]

The cap has a little piece with a hole you can see at 3:43. Pretty sure the tech should've lock wired that to the hole where the valve handle used to be and crimped it with a serial number tag.

[@mikepepler]

😂 Yes, that would be more secure! Good job I have no interest in their gas any more....

[@hariowen3840]

@@mikexkennedy And???

[@barryfoster453]

Did this in 2007, and went all electric.

[@mikepepler]

Nice! If we didn't own a few acres of woodland, we'd be using a heat pump. For now, I enjoy the work in the woods to supply our heating though.

[@barryfoster453]

@@mikepepler I got into a YT conversation with someone a few weeks ago who has done this big time. He planted THOUSANDS of trees on his land 20 years ago. Obviously, he now has far more than he needs. It's ok if you're still able to chop them down and cut them, but the older you get (I'm 65) the more electric appeals. Electric is just so incredibly convenient. We had a woodburner up until this year. Daily ash clear-out, and going to get wood from our spider shed was not fun.

[@mikepepler]

Same here, I'm 50 at the moment, so happy to keep cutting coppice for some years yet, and the trees are growing back faster than we cut them. But eventually I expect to move to a heat pump.

[@barryfoster453]

@@mikepepler Mike, just make sure you do ALL the mathematics first - before you go down the heat pump route. My electric set-up cost me just £1,900 (capital outlay) for a 3-bed bungalow (hot water was extra). You could do it for less, easily. My annual bill (that's heating, hot water, lighting, and cooking) is £3,000. That's not cheap, and a heat pump would be less on running costs, BUT you have to take into account the high capital outlay of a heat pump system, the loss of interest (on that capital), the maintenance, the servicing, failures, and the effect it has on the fabric of the building. And remember that at some point it will need replacing. Also remember that heat pumps are literally running all the time apart from summer, and they don't perform fantastically-well in harsh winters...much of the time just running on straight electricity from the grid. When it goes wrong (and it will) you can't just call a plumber in. It's your choice, but as a heating consultant, I love simplicity, because that means reliability. My £3,000 a year is good for my mind - that I have an instantly responsive system that is incredibly reliable.

[@martinjohnson9316]

With the deadly Ed Miliband doing his best to keep our energy supply as one of the most expensive in the world, i'd be wanting to go the other way...from electric to gas. Near me (North Leics/Notts)b the crazy govt have just shut down the last major coal burning (2 gigaWatt) power station and so we are more and more at the mercy of expensive 'green' energy....(windmills have'nt been working for the last couple of weeks!) and no sun. What a joke.

[@mikepepler]

I expect some of the levies to be shifted from electricity to gas, to deliberately tip the balance in favour of heat pumps. Also, the UK is a gas importer, and with the ongoing situation with Russia and Ukraine I don't think there's any guarantee of stable gas prices. 2022 should be a lesson for us all. Better insulation is a win-win though, saves money and energy whatever you use to heat your home.

[@mikepepler]

There's another thing too. As people gradually disconnect from the gas network, the cost of running the network stays about the same, but is now spread over fewer customers. So the standing charge will rise more quickly in coming years, thus increasing the financial incentive to switch away from gas. This ought to be recognised in govt policy, otherwise those left stranded using expensive gas will be those least able to afford to switch away, such as those renting from landlords who don't want to invest in improving their properties.