In the UK the gas in businesses and homes is supplied by gas suppliers. Only the supplier who has been given a license by Ofgem (office of gas and electricity markets) can sell gas.

Now all gas consumers are free to choose a licensed supplier whom they believe is cheap and also provides a better grade of service. In order to choose the best gas supplier who meets their requirements, consumers must know the complete details of all the gas suppliers in the market. And it is even more important to compare plans, rates and prices they offer.

It should be kept in mind that policies, prices and services offered to you by different vendors are different. While changing the supplier you must first very carefully check the contracts of different gas suppliers in the market and compare them with your current supplier to make sure that you have succeeded in choosing the best deal available for your needs. You must find out:

• How will the new gas suppliers charge you for the gas supply?

• You must find out if there are any cheap tariffs offered by the gas supplier for particular payment modes, i.e. credit cards.

• What are the service standards the gas suppliers are promising you - for example extra help for disabled or older people and for repairs etc.

• Policies of the gas supplier.

Similarly it is mandatory for all gas suppliers to strictly follow certain standards. All the gas suppliers sign a code of practice that has been produced by the Association of Energy Suppliers (AES). The gas suppliers must strictly follow the guidelines that have been given the code. These guidelines cover all the details of all the methods that are used for selling the gas.

• Gas suppliers must not give you any false information about any advertisement and promotions. All the information they give to you must be very reasonable, fair and accurate.

• There is a time window from 9:00 am to 8:00pm between which the sale agents are allowed to call you. Guideline forbids the agents to call you outside this window until and unless you have allowed them to do so.

• The gas suppliers must have a valid ID card available with them all the time and they must use it to identify themselves to the clients even without being asked.

• The sale agents must make sure that the clients have completely understood the contract and also they know it contains the right to cancel it.

• The copy of the signed contract must also be given to the client.

As mentioned earlier there are a lot of gas suppliers available in the UK market who supply gas at their own rates. These gas suppliers also follow their own policies-and offer you different grades of services. It is the right of every United Kingdom citizen to thoroughly investigate the quality of services offered by these gas suppliers and choose the one that completely fulfills their demands and needs.