As part of our retrofit we’re trying to decide whether to move our 5yr boiler or replace with ASHP. Finances will probably be the deciding factor here but along the way I asked Cadent (who manage the NW gas network) for a quote for disconnection. I was told this would be £1600 or more, just to turn the tap off…!
Fortunately the surveyor who called me was a helpful soul and said that I could also call my gas company, say I’m doing renovation works and ask for the meter to be removed and the pipe to be capped. They’ll do this free of charge. If your pipe remains capped, Cadent will start sending you letters threatening to disconnect you. If, after 6 months, they’ve had no response from you, they’ll come out and disconnect the gas supply in the road without charge.
The only downside is you have to pay standing charge for the 6 months even though you’re not using any gas, this should be about £20 for the 6 months. Not a bad trade-off if you’re willing to wait.
Happy retrofitting 
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That’s great info thanks! Looking to do this soon ourselves, so we need to see what the prices are in the northeast
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My utility company is Octopus Energy and it was a simple process to contact them and arrange for the mains gas to be Capped and the meter removed. It was done for free. Because there was a delay in getting an appointment between having my gas boiler removed and the sub-contractor coming out to do the work they even paid be back the number of additional days that they charged for the standing charge.
The key thing is to go directly to your utility company not the DNO.
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Slight worry with this method is it may impact on your credit rating?
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It is the responsibility of the supplier to bill for infrastructure usage (mainly as part of the standing charge). There is no reason for the DNO to get directly involved in your gas bill.
I am also with Octopus and know of several people on their forum that have had their meter removed and the supply capped. At that point Octopus stop billing and that is the end of it. If other suppliers don’t have a coordinated approach they might continue billing and of course if you don’t pay you would eventually be disconnected and get a bad credit rating. Presumably the bills would be estimated so keep your last meter reading the correct their reading each time you are billed.