In article ,
"Phil L" writes:
He probably did get a meter, just not one that any gas company knew about -
they are freely available.
I've known a few people do this, a chap I knew had extensive work done on
his house, one of the jobs he did himself while all the suspended floors
were being filled in with mot prior to concreting, was to branch off the gas
main so that he had another meter coming up under his stairs, needless to
say, his CH and HW came from this, while the official meter supplied his gas
hob

The house next to me was empty when gas privatisation happened (1986?).
It was eventually sold to a plumber who spent a couple of years stripping
it out and refitting it before moving in.

After a few years, he sold it and the next people who moved in eventually
asked me over the fence if I got a gas bill (yes), because they'd never
had one. They were quite worried by this and spent some time trying to
sort it out. I never heard what happened, but they eventually sold the
house.

A retired couple moved in for a few years, and then sold it.

Followed by another retired couple, who were there for ~5 years. After
about a year, I got the same question from them - no gas bills. So I
guess the owners two before never managed to sort it out, although I
know they tried. I presume all the owners since gas privatisation
had never got a gas bill. These folks continued trying to sort it out,
and eventually managed to do so shortly before they sold the house,
a couple of years ago.

So the house had no gas bills for over 20 years.

There was an almost identical case on Radio 4 last week, except it was
the same owner for 20 years. She had also been trying to get it solved,
but gas companies all told her that her property didn't have gas, so
they couldn't bill her. Eventually she got an MPAN number allocated,
and then could be sold gas. Because she had been trying to sort it out,
they could only bill her for last 12 months usage. (If you haven't
tried to correct such an issue, they can bill you right back to the
date of gas privatisation.)

--
Andrew Gabriel
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