PNG consumers losing 25% fuel on retrofitted LPG stoves even as Centre pushes for piped natural gas

Bengaluru: Piped Natural Gas (PNG) consumers who retrofitted their old LPG stoves are losing around 25% of the fuel charged on their bills, simply because their old stove is not equipped for the combustion of new gas.

On March 24, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas notified a new rule stating that households not opting for PNG despite availability will not get LPG after three months. The rule comes in the wake of a shortage of LPG — 60% of which is imported compared to 50% import of PNG — amid the ongoing West Asia war.

Many consumers switching over to PNG are unwittingly losing around 25% of the gas due to retrofitting of their old LPG stoves by modifying the nozzle and burner. However, these stoves, which are designed for the denser LPG that flows at a higher pressure, cannot efficiently burn PNG. The piped gas requires a different burner due to its low-pressure flow.

Anjan Ray, a former director of CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, noted that in view of the wastage of gas established by a study conducted by the institute, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has made it mandatory for the piped gas suppliers to install PNG stoves.

“The companies are not interested as they can sell 25% more gas by allowing retrofitting. Consumers continue to pay 25% more for the gas they never used,” he noted.

Ray said: “Any consumer who switches to a PNG stove will recover the cost in reduced bills within the next few months.”

Apart from wastage of precious energy, the unburnt gas is adding to the climate crisis.

PNG is based on methane and 1 kg of wasted PNG is as deadly as 80 kg of CO2 in terms of its power to trap heat and contribute to global warming.

A cursory look on the Internet suggests that CSIR-IIP study is well known among the leaders in the sector.

The institute itself has issued flyers advertising the benefit of PNG stoves and describing the retrofitting as a safety hazard. In fact, the institute has transferred the technology to 42 domestic stove and burner manufacturing companies.

Chiradeep Datta, Chief Operating Officer of Think Gas, a private company that is one of the major suppliers of PNG in Karnataka, said the company informs its consumers to install a PNG-compliant stove as per the standards issued by the government.

“However, there is no mandate to stop conversion/retrofitment of LPG stoves to PNG. Further, due to the current LPG crisis, the focus of the government is to bring as many consumers as possible into the PNG fold. The city gas distributor entities are working round the clock to achieve this objective,” he said.

Ray said the gazette notification issued in August 2023 can be used to end the problem of retrofitting. He said there was a possibility that distributor companies were not interested in enforcing it.

An advisor to the PNGRB agreed that the matter needs to be addressed immediately. “We need to stop the wastage of PNG, whose value cannot be overstated. The distributor companies have to understand that they have a big role to play in this matter,” he said.

The PNG distribution has witnessed rapid expansion, with household connections increasing significantly to over 1.59 crore, up from 25 lakh in 2014. Karnataka is estimated to have crossed 5.5 lakh connections in March.