Private customer

The conversion operations will start in 2018 and continue until 2024. Every year, a number of users will be converted over the summer.

You can check below, by entering your postcode, if your municipality is affected, partially affected or not affected by this change. 

For private customers, this mainly concerns the following gas appliances: boilers, small and large water heaters, cookers, cooking hobs, stoves, convector heaters and decorative fireplaces.  

The gas conversion concerns only natural gas. It does not apply to gas in bottles (propane or butane), nor to gas used in vehicles (LPG, CNG). 

Are you living in a municipality that will convert to rich gas? You can check to see if your municipality is affected by entering your postcode in the search field at the bottom of this page. 

If you are affected, your distribution network operator and/or your supplier will notify you well in advance. If you are affected, you will have to call on an ‘authorised technician’ to inspect, and possibly to adjust, all your natural gas appliances before the actual conversion. This way you can be sure that they will continue to run properly and safely on rich gas. 

This inspection will be charged to you. Ask for this inspection in good time from your authorised technician, so that you can combine it with the next compulsory periodic inspection of your boiler.

In some cases, a technician from your distribution network operator will have to adapt the pressure regulator (limiter) on your gas meter. This adaptation is free of charge. Your network operator will do this at his own expense.

This adaptation is essential for safety reasons. 

You are therefore required to give your distribution network operator access to your gas meter.

No technicians will visit Brussels and much of the Antwerp conurbation, because these areas don’t have pressure regulators on the gas meter. This means nothing needs to be adapted.

To know how to recognise a technician from your distribution network operator, check the operator’s website. 

You pay per unit of energy (kWh) that you consume. The calculation on your bill (see FAQ) will look different, but if you use the same amount of energy you will pay the same as before.

If you don’t get your appliances inspected, this could pose a risk after the conversion. Indeed, your appliance may not run at optimum efficiency, for example because it produces more CO (carbon monoxide), it consumes more gas or it wears out faster. An appliance in poor working order will cost more, is bad for the environment and might be harmful to your health in some circumstances. Regarding safety, remember that in most cases the rooms containing a gas appliance must have sufficient ventilation and must comply with the various safety standards in this field. 

Some gas appliances are not compatible with rich gas. 

Ask your technician for a visit report indicating which of your appliances have been inspected and and which adaptations have been made. This will provide you with documentary evidence of the technician’s visit and any work carried out. 

Inspection of your gas appliances must be done by an authorised technician, which means someone qualified to do so. There are three types of authorised technician:

• a technician certified by your region to carry out the compulsory periodic inspection of boilers: a GI or GII technician; 
• a technician from your appliance’s manufacturer;
• a technician from the official distributor designated by the manufacturer of your appliance brand. 

The cost of the inspection and any adaptation of your domestic appliances will depend on the number and type of appliances that have to be inspected, as well as the fees of your authorised technician. We estimate that in most cases it will cost you anything between € 0 and € 150 for 1 to 3 domestic appliances (non-contractual estimation - September 2017). This estimation is based on monitoring of prices charged on the market and takes into account a broad range of applicable technical factors. You should ask for several price offers and take advantage of the competition.

If you ask for this inspection in good time, you can combine it with the next compulsory periodic inspection of your boiler.

This way, you won’t have to call your technician twice and pay his travel costs twice

The owner of any gas appliance is responsible for checking the appliance’s compatibility with rich gas and for any adaptation of the appliance. 

The landlord of a rented residence must pay the costs for the inspection and any adaptation of the gas appliances that they own. 

The tenant must pay the costs of the inspection and any adaptation of the gas appliances that they own. Furthermore, the tenant must give the landlord’s authorized technician access to the accommodation. 

As a tenant, always check whether or not your rental contract includes a clause that makes you responsible for the costs of the inspection and any adaptation of your landlord’s gas appliances.

As a tenant, always check whether or not your rental contract includes a clause that makes you responsible for the costs of the inspection and any adaptation of your landlord’s gas appliances.
 
As a tenant, you should also notify your landlord of the conversion, and of their obligation to carry out an inspection and to make any necessary adaptations to the gas appliances in the accommodation they rent out. That’s because the tenant will be alerted about the date of the conversion to rich gas by the distribution network operator and/or the gas supplier. It is therefore your responsibility to alert your landlord.