New Natural Gas Connection - 'Chicken or the Egg' ?

Hi. I'm hoping someone can help me here with a Natural Gas installation process problem. I can't seem to grasp how it's all supposed to work, maybe I'm just a bit 'thick' ... I dunno. Got me beat :)

My wife and I bought a property a few months back. It's got electric hot water & an electric cooker so there was absolutely no gas to the property at all however we knew that a natural gas mains line ran right past the front door because the neighbouring house had it installed and we could see the meter etc. We wanted to at least cook with gas so we obviously needed to get it connected.

No problems there, I just called up AGL and started asking if it was possible etc. and they told me that it most probably was so I lodged an install request then and there. I was expecting it to take a few months and that was fine because we had a heap of other stuff to do so it wasn't urgent plus we weren't even sure if we were going to just go for gas cooking or gas hot water or both at that stage.

We came back from a short week-long holiday shortly after calling AGL to find some freshly turned soil etc. on the front lawn and a neatly installed pipe & frame down the side of the house. Great ! Very neat & tidy and ready to go even if we still weren't quite ready. There was no gas meter installed, it was just the pipe & the framework and this is where it gets confusing.

Now, for many reasons we decided against going for a gas hot water system and just stick to a gas cooker. We have now purchased one and would love to get it installed ... but what's the next step ?

I was told I had to call the retailer (AGL) to get them to install the meter and then I could get a plumber to run the pipes and install the stove but it seems that's the wrong way around. I've now been told that I have to get the gas fitter to install the stove & pipework in the house and then call AGL who will come out and supply/connect the meter.

Chicken or the egg ?! What's the actual process I have follow to move forward with this ? Can anyone help ?!

Steve.


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