How to check a gas installer is on the RGI register
Gas is the one area of home maintenance in Ireland where the rule is absolute. Designated gas work must be carried out by a Registered Gas Installer, and it is a criminal offence under the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 for anyone else to do it. This is not a trade association or a quality badge you can weigh against price. It is the law.
What counts as gas work
Anything involving the gas installation itself: installing, servicing, repairing or replacing a natural gas or LPG boiler, altering gas pipework, fitting a gas hob or fire, and work on the meter installation. A plumber who is not RGI registered cannot legally do any of it, even if they are entirely competent at plumbing.
Oil boilers sit outside the RGI scheme. For oil, OFTEC registration is the usual equivalent to look for.
How to check the register
Every registered installer has a unique registration number, and the register at rgi.ie is public and free to search. Check the installer before they come out.
Ask for the registration number and look it up yourself rather than accepting a number read out over the phone. Registration also lapses, so a card someone shows you is only evidence of the day it was printed; the online register is what is current.
If someone offering to work on your gas boiler is not on that register, the correct response is to not let them, regardless of price or how quickly they can come.
The Declaration of Conformance
When a Registered Gas Installer completes gas work, they must issue a Declaration of Conformance, sometimes called a Completion Certificate. Issuing it is mandatory under the 2006 Act, not optional and not something you should have to ask twice for.
It declares that the installation conforms to I.S. 813, the Irish standard for domestic gas installations. There are three types depending on the work: one for new meter installations, one for boiler installation, replacement or repair, and one for other gas work including pipework and servicing.
Keep it. It is what your insurer will look for after an incident, what a buyer’s solicitor may request, and in many cases what the boiler manufacturer’s warranty depends on.
If you smell gas
Do not phone your installer first. Leave the building, do not operate electrical switches, and phone the Gas Networks Ireland 24-hour emergency line on 1800 20 50 50. That line exists for exactly this, and it is free.
Questions worth asking before you book
- What is your RGI registration number?
- Will I get a Declaration of Conformance when the work is finished?
- Is the appliance covered by a warranty that requires annual servicing by a registered installer?
Where oversight sits
The RGI scheme operates under the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which also oversees Safe Electric for electrical contractors. If you have a safety concern about gas work that has been carried out, that is where it should go.