Over the winter, households reliant on liquid petroleum (LPG) gas for energy reported they were left without heating or cooking facilities, despite accounts being in credit, because their supplier, AvantiGas, was failing to replenish their tanks.
Unsurprisingly, some customers want to escape when their contracts end, including AA of Llanymynech, Shropshire and NL of Henfield, West Sussex. In both cases, AvantiGas blocked the transfer to a new supplier by failing to provide the required certificate confirming their LPG tanks were in good order.
“It tested our tank in spring last year, but is now claiming it didn’t,” said AA, who had been waiting two months when she contacted me. “It says it will have to be tested again, but won’t give us a date.”
NL has been waiting three months for the same reason. “I am being held hostage and, in the meantime, I have had to pay them for a full tank at twice my old price as I am out of contract,” he said.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority, LPG customers who are out of contract should be able to switch within 28 days.
AA was released after a 91-day wait following my intervention, and NL after more than 100 days. AvantiGas blames a “misunderstanding” in NL’s case, but did not comment on AA’s.
LPG customers with unresolved complaints can take their case to the Liquid Gas UK Ombudsman Scheme if their supplier is a member.
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