The gas inspection that rings your bell is not the compulsory one

Give it a fail on the spot — the visit that buzzes your intercom announcing a "compulsory gas inspection". The procedure is real and it is compulsory. Whoever carries it out for real does not turn up like that.

We are talking about one specific thing: the periodic inspection of piped gas, the kind that comes off a distribution network. If your home runs on bottled gas, this is not yours and the procedure is a different one.

The notice: zero stars.

The inspection of the installation is carried out once every five years, and the one who has to warn you is the distributor: the company that owns the pipe, which is almost never the one that sends you the bill. The notice arrives in writing at least three months ahead, and it is addressed to you by name. It carries your name and surname, the date of the previous inspection and your CUPS, the long code identifying your supply point, which appears on your bill. That holds across the whole of Spain.

Procedure: one star.

Then comes the appointment. If you pick the distributor, it has to give you a day and a three-hour window, with five working days' notice. That comes from Royal Decree 984/2015 and holds across the whole of Spain. Also true everywhere is that you can choose who does it: the distributor, or an authorised gas installation company you hire yourself.

The person at the intercom has sent no letter, does not know your CUPS and has not given you a window. They have buzzed ten flats in a row and are waiting for somebody to open.

Price: one star, with reservations.

Consumer Affairs for the Madrid region publishes the maximum the distributor may charge you in 2026: around 40 euros for the physical inspection of an installation under 70 kilowatts, which is any home. In other regions the amount changes, because they are the ones who set it.

Method of payment: disqualified.

And here the pretence ends, because this is the test that never fails: you never hand over any money to the person carrying out the inspection. No cash. No card. No instant transfer. No "that's forty and I'll sign your paper". Whether the distributor does it or an installer you hire yourself, the amount lands on your next gas bill: Royal Decree 984/2015 requires the total cost to be billed through your gas retailer. What does change is the price, which with an installer is unregulated. If they charge you on the landing, this is not it.

Consumer Affairs adds two more warnings. One: the visit nobody asked for. Two: the notice stuck up in the entrance hall announcing that a company is coming round tomorrow. That notice does not carry your CUPS, and it does not carry it because whoever stuck it up does not have it.

Open your last gas bill now, find the "Breakdown helpline" section and save that number on your phone as "Gas distributor". It is the number you call when the intercom goes, before you open.