Off-grid homeowners left stranded without fuel

Families living in rural off-grid homes have been left without heating or hot water in sub-zero temperatures, due to major delays in liquid gas deliveries.

Companies supplying liquefied petroleum gas to homes off the gas grid have blamed a combination of Covid isolation rules causing driver shortages and post-Brexit admin issues for weekslong delays to home deliveries.

This has left some households with no way to heat their homes during the coldest months of the year. Some older and vulnerable people, including those sick with cancer and Covid, have been unable to keep warm as a result.

Andrew Banks, from Ellesmere in Shropshire, said that he was left without hot water or heating for a week after his LPG delivery failed to turn up.

“Getting hold of our supplier, Flogas, was next to impossible,” Mr Banks said. “We’ve had no explanation at all. I rang their ‘customer experience’ line for an hour and then got cut off. There is no other way to contact them, as they seem to have closed their contact page online.”

Customers have taken to social media in recent days to voice their complaints. Another Flogas customer said: “We have been without gas for nearly three days. We are both in our 80s and certainly should not be in this dreadful position.”

A Calor Gas customer complained that they had been without gas for two weeks and had been unable to get through to the company’s helpline. Another said: “[ We] ordered gas over two weeks ago. We have Covid, so can’t leave the house. We have kids, we are ill, we have no heating, so we can’t keep warm, and can’t even get a shower or go to family or friends.”

One Calor Gas customer told the supplier she had ordered gas three weeks ago, but it had failed to arrive. She said: “My husband is on the second round of chemotherapy and is cold. We have virtually no gas, you won’t answer our emails, and there’s no number to call.”

Some four million households in Britain are off-grid, according to the Energy Saving Trust, a trade body. Roughly half of these are in rural areas.

LPG currently heats about 193,000 homes. It works similarly to natural gas and can fuel central heating, boilers, cookers, gas fires and Agas.

George Webb, of Liquid Gas UK, a trade body representing LPG retailers, said that supply challenges had had an impact on a “small number” of customers. He said: “Like many sectors, the industry has felt pressure due to Covid related absences, causing continued difficulties in accessing drivers to distribute LPG.

“With the isolation period now reduced to five days, we hope to see some alleviation. In addition, the LPG industry has struggled to access drivers with an ADR qualification [for driving dangerous goods] post-Brexit, which is needed to deliver LPG in the UK. The combination of these factors has stretched the industry’s delivery capacity this winter.”

Mr Webb added that LPG supply companies have drivers currently delivering seven days a week, and that firms were pulling in additional staff to help with deliveries and customer inquiries. He said that firms would prioritise vulnerable customers.

Lee Gannon, of Flogas, said: “We are currently experiencing significant delays in making deliveries. The pressures of peak seasonal demand, driver shortages and the impact of Covid have inevitably impacted our delivery capacity, at a time when we are also seeing increased domestic gas usage as more people work from home.

“This situation has led to a significant increase in the volume of calls and email inquiries regarding deliveries, which is delaying our response time.” Calor Gas declined to comment. LPG customers have had to pay more for their fuel than their on-grid neighbours this winter, as they are not protected by the energy price cap.

This means that retailers have been able to pass on the spike in wholesale costs that has caused the energy crisis to consumers. The Government wants to ban properties in England that are off the mains gas grid from being fitted with new oil and liquid gas heating systems by 2026. The move, which would disproportionately affect rural dwellers, is mooted to come nine years earlier than plans to ban new fossil fuel systems in households on the gas grid. Households will be expected to install heat pumps instead. Yet just one in 20 of the rural homes affected will be able to afford these systems, which cost thousands of pounds more than traditional alternatives.

The Government said its proposals would affect roughly 1.1 million homes in England. Other parts of the UK could follow suit. It said it currently cost offgrid households £ 12,000 to install a heat pump, about £8,000 more than equivalent fossil fuel systems.

Andrew Banks, from Ellesmere in Shropshire, who was without heating for a week