LPG Company Change – If you’re troubled by your gas supplier or dealer’s poor service, delayed delivery, or arbitrary behavior, you may soon find relief. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is preparing a historic change that will allow customers to switch their current gas company, similar to mobile number portability (MNP).
What is LPG portability option?
Currently, portability was limited to different dealers of the same company (e.g., a customer of Company A could only choose another A dealer). This means that a cylinder of a particular company could only be refilled by that company. PNGRB plans to remove this barrier, allowing customers to switch their existing service to another company without purchasing a new connection.
What benefits will customers get?
In case of poor service or delay in delivery, customers will be able to change their company immediately, which will increase competition between gas companies and dealers and improve the service. In case of emergency or dealer out of stock, customers will soon be able to get their cylinder refilled from any dealer near them.
The price of LPG cylinders is almost the same, hence now the consumer will have the right to choose the company only on the basis of service.
What is the current status of portability?
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated that the number of LPG connections in the country has increased from 140 million in 2014 to over 330 million now. The government’s objective is to improve service to meet the growing number of customers.