# Natural Gas in Campello



## amogles (Feb 4, 2014)

There is currently a sales drive by the natural gas company Fenosa going on in Campello. They want to put in gas mains in many of the streets that don't yet have them and are selling subscriptions. This in itself sounds like a fair idea. No more having to worry about how much longer my butane flask will last, or lugging the heavy things around. To sell this, they are sending agents knocking on doors. We had such a visit on Friday. The lady told us the price of butane flasks is going up to 25 Euros, so now is the time to switch to mains gas. She says normally the price of installing gas (if I understood correctly, this includes the pipes, but also the meter plus the water heater plus an outlet in the kitchen) is 1086 Euros, but as an introductory offer they are doing it for 250 Euros if I sign up now. Monthly charges are 4.50 Euros plus consumption and there is a one time connection charge of 182.48 + IVA that can also be paid in installments over 2 years without interest.

I haven't had this house for very long so don't really have much of a handle on what my present gas costs are. It's also a holiday house, so my consumption averaged over the year is probably low. I talked to my Spanish neighbour about this, and he says, don't do it. The gas company are nothing but trouble and their customer service department is useless.

Does anybody else have some input / experience on this? Have you had similar visits?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

I have no direct knowledge of a town gas installation other than what I've been told;

Town gas is expensive
Installation for a friend cost a fortune and they weren't very tidy
It's a great option if you want central heating - make sure you get the correct boiler to give you options
To my knowledge, no one can predict when gas bottles will hit 25 euros but it won't be any time soon - 35% rise (ish)???

I think you just have to do the sums. How often will you need customer service?

As a holiday home, I wouldn't do it.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

amogles said:


> There is currently a sales drive by the natural gas company Fenosa going on in Campello. They want to put in gas mains in many of the streets that don't yet have them and are selling subscriptions. This in itself sounds like a fair idea. No more having to worry about how much longer my butane flask will last, or lugging the heavy things around. To sell this, they are sending agents knocking on doors. We had such a visit on Friday. The lady told us the price of butane flasks is going up to 25 Euros, so now is the time to switch to mains gas. She says normally the price of installing gas (if I understood correctly, this includes the pipes, but also the meter plus the water heater plus an outlet in the kitchen) is 1086 Euros, but as an introductory offer they are doing it for 250 Euros if I sign up now. Monthly charges are 4.50 Euros plus consumption and there is a one time connection charge of 182.48 + IVA that can also be paid in installments over 2 years without interest.
> 
> I haven't had this house for very long so don't really have much of a handle on what my present gas costs are. It's also a holiday house, so my consumption averaged over the year is probably low. I talked to my Spanish neighbour about this, and he says, don't do it. The gas company are nothing but trouble and their customer service department is useless.
> 
> Does anybody else have some input / experience on this? Have you had similar visits?


My experience is from 19 years ago.
The initial offer was much cheaper than getting it done on your own later on.
I don't have the numbers, but Natural gas is not cheap. However, we live here permanently and we have central heating so it's more convenient.
That the gas company is rubbish? I've never had a problem although it probably depends on the region you're in. As snikpoh says, how many times are you going to be in contact with them anyway?


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## amogles (Feb 4, 2014)

Ok, here is my update on this.

One of the reasons I had for not wanting to sign up was that I am likely to do some major rebuilding work on the house within the next couple of years, most likely featuring an extension and definitely featuring a new roof on the main part of the house. As I haven't go the details worked out yet, this makes it virtually impossible to decide where to put a gas pipe now, and putting one in only to rip it out seems like a waste of money.

Another reason was that this being a holiday home, I doubt that I would consume enough gas to make the standing charge worthwhile. I also asked the sales lady about long term prospects of price hikes and how easy it would be to opt in and out and she denied there would ever be any price hikes. This seems a tad dishonest to me, and it didn't answer my question.

The sales lady became extremely pushy. She said if I don't want the gas now, they can at least put the mains in up to the edge of my land. I said, that was a good idea. She said, they would do that for free, I said, all the better, then surely it should be a no brainer. I remained skeptical however, as if something sound stop good to be true, it usually is. Then she started filing in my contract and asked for my bank account. I asked her, what for, seeing it was free. First she said it was a security but then when I asked again she said I would have to also pay an installation charge. I asked, what is free about an installation charge that I need to pay. She said it was free up front but I would pay it in installments without interest over 2 years, and I would also have to pay the standing charge. I said, then it's not free. She said, you don't understand. She refused to leave and I really had to come close to threatening her to make her leave my property. She came back every day after that for the rest of the week and banged loudly on my door and was a real nuisance. Once she came by when I had friends over and we were having drinks in the garden and she walked into the middle of our circle and started her sales pitch. She had no shame whatsoever. I told her to leave but later, when my friends left, she accosted them outside and tried to convince them to convince us.

The next thing was that we took a closer look at the small print of the contract and it turned out it wasn't a gas contract at all but an electric contract. The next time she came I wasn't there unfortunately but she talked to my OH, and when asked about this contract, she said that in Spain it's normal that you get gas sand electricity from the same supplier. When asked why she hadn't told that earlier, as this is a whole new perspective that she had hidden from us, she pretended not to understand. She did however ask to have the contract back. I guess she was scared we had evidence against her. She even said it was illegal for us to keep the contract.

So this thing is really getting increasingly crazy. I really do regret ever having opened the door for her or taken her seriously.

I wrote an email to Gas Natural to complain and they never got back to me. The whole thing stinks.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

amogles said:


> Ok, here is my update on this.
> 
> One of the reasons I had for not wanting to sign up was that I am likely to do some major rebuilding work on the house within the next couple of years, most likely featuring an extension and definitely featuring a new roof on the main part of the house. As I haven't go the details worked out yet, this makes it virtually impossible to decide where to put a gas pipe now, and putting one in only to rip it out seems like a waste of money.
> 
> ...


Interesting, thanks for taking the time to write this post.
As far as keeping the contract, I wouldn't be surprise if it really was illegal to keep it. Spanish law is full of surprises!
To make a "real" complaint I suspect you need to have an official complaints form. How would you get one? Maybe by going to the local police or visiting the nearest gas board office
Looks like there's one in Alicante
http://www.gasnaturalfenosa.es/es/h...ntros/1297149267314/comunidad+valenciana.html


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