Adding a gas range. Moving a line for a remodel. Running a stub to a pool heater. Texas law treats all three as the same kind of work: gas piping is plumbing, and the five jobs the statute carves out of the permit requirement reach none of it. This page covers who may legally do the work, when a permit is required, what a pressure test is, and where the utility’s pipe ends and yours begins.
Leave the building on foot with everyone in it, touch nothing that could make a spark, and call 911 and your gas utility once you are well away.
Texas gas utilities publish near-identical instructions. CenterPoint Energy tells customers to “Leave your home immediately on foot and take everyone with you. Do not turn lights on or off, use your phone or do anything that might create a spark.”
CPS Energy publishes its own two lists, and we reproduce them whole rather than summarizing, because the item a summary drops is the item somebody needed.
What to do:
What NOT to do:
Do not trust your nose alone. Atmos Energy puts the limits of the odorant in its own words: “continued exposure to the odorant can desensitize the sense of smell. Additionally, the smell of natural gas can be masked by other odors in the area. In certain rare situations, the odor intensity can be diminished by physical and/or chemical processes, such as when gas passes through certain soil conditions.” It adds that a cold, sinus condition or allergy can leave you with “a diminished capability to detect a natural gas leak.”
CPS Energy’s three signs, as it lists them: “Smell it: Strong odor like rotten eggs (mercaptan)”; “Hear it: Hissing or roaring noise”; “See it: Dead plants, dirt blowing, or bubbling water.”
Emergency numbers, from each utility’s own page: Atmos Energy 866.322.8667. CenterPoint Energy 713-659-2111 or 888-876-5786. CPS Energy 210-353-4357. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates intrastate gas distribution and gas utility service here, runs a 24-hour pipeline emergency line at 844-773-0305.
Texas defines plumbing to include gas piping, so the people allowed to install, alter or repair the line to your range are licensed plumbers working under a Responsible Master Plumber.
The definition sits in Section 1301.002(7) of the Texas Occupations Code: piping, fixtures and appliances used to “supply, distribute, circulate, or recirculate water, other liquid, or gas,” reaching outside the building to whatever connects the house to a gas supply on the premises. Installing, repairing, servicing or maintaining any of it is plumbing.
Section 1301.351(a) sets who may do it. A person other than a responsible master plumber may not engage in plumbing unless the person holds the proper license, registration or endorsement and the person’s work is supervised and controlled by someone licensed under the chapter. Both conditions, not either one.
There is no Texas natural gas license. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners issues four licenses, four registrations and three endorsements, and the only gas endorsement is Medical Gas Piping Installation, which Section 1301.356 limits to pipe “used solely to transport gas for medical purposes.” That is hospital oxygen, not the line feeding your furnace. Fuel gas work is ordinary plumbing, done by a licensed plumber under an RMP. For the tiers generally, see who is legally allowed to touch your pipes in Texas.
Propane is the exception: Section 1301.055 says an LP gas system installation needs no TSBPE license if the installer is licensed by the Railroad Commission under Chapter 113 of the Natural Resources Code.
The Board’s March 2026 administrative rules set a penalty of $4,000 for engaging in plumbing without the proper license, plus another $1,000 “if work involved natural gas.” That PDF is marked an unofficial version on its own cover, and the Board points to the Secretary of State’s TAC portal for the official text.
A delivery crew may connect an appliance to an existing gas opening with a code-approved connector, and the exemption ends the moment anyone cuts into the piping.
Section 1301.053(a)(4) exempts appliance installation and service by an appliance dealer or a dealer’s employee, but only where it “involves connecting appliances to existing openings with a code-approved appliance connector,” and it carves water heaters out entirely. The Board’s rules define an Appliance Connection as a procedure “that does not require cutting into or altering the existing plumbing system,” and the parallel exemption for maintenance staff says it “does not include cutting into fuel gas plumbing systems and the installation of gas fueled water heaters.”
Hooking a new dryer to a capped, existing stub with a listed connector can be a delivery crew’s job. Putting the stub there is not. The exemption in general, and the rest of who may lawfully work on your pipes, is on who is legally allowed to touch your pipes in Texas.
Section 1301.051 exempts a property owner from needing a license to perform plumbing in their own homestead, but that is an exemption from the license, not from the city’s permit and inspection, and it does not travel to a rental.
Garland requires a homeowner to own the home, live in it and hold a homestead exemption through the Dallas Central Appraisal District, to produce a current driver’s license showing that address, and it verifies the homestead with the appraisal district before issuing the permit. For rental property its rule is one line: a state-licensed master plumber registered with the city must do the work. “No exceptions.”
That is Garland’s procedure. Eight Texas cities’ homeowner rules, side by side, are on Texas plumbing permits. The state will not stop you working on your own homestead; your city still wants a permit and a passed test, and this page will not walk you through a gas repair.
Every Texas city over 5,000 people must regulate gas piping, and gas work is not among the five jobs the statute carves out of the permit requirement. Assume a permit.
Section 1301.551(a) requires a municipality with more than 5,000 inhabitants to regulate by ordinance the material, construction, alteration and inspection of any pipe, valve, water heater or other fixture “by or through which a supply of water, gas, or sewage is used or carried.”
Subsection (c) then tells a city that adopts such an ordinance to require a permit before anyone performs plumbing, “other than” five named jobs. None of the five is gas work, so the carve-out never reaches your line. We set out the whole list, and how to read it, on Texas plumbing permits.
One city puts a clock on it. Garland requires a permit “whenever your gas service has been disconnected for six months or longer,” whether you asked for the disconnection or the gas company made it. That is Garland’s rule on an undated page, not a Texas rule; ask your own city.
Fees belong to the city, and the line item is rarely the whole bill. Houston’s 2026 schedule prices a gas permit and inspection at $45.53 for up to four openings and $7.80 for each additional opening, with a $94.00 reinspection fee if the test fails. But the schedule heads its fees with a note: “All permit fees are subject to the minimum and administrative fees.” The gas line sits in the schedule’s Plumbing Permit Fees section, whose minimum permit fee is $97.56, and a non-refundable $33.56 administrative fee applies on top. So the $45.53 is a line item, not a total.
Set the administrative fee beside Section 1301.551(g), which says a responsible master plumber, plumbing contractor “or other person” required to obtain a permit “is not required to pay a plumbing registration fee or administrative fee” in a municipality or other political subdivision. We have not resolved how those two sit together, and whether it reaches a permit you pull yourself is a further question we have also not resolved. We will not pretend otherwise.
We keep no per-city fee table here. That lives on Texas plumbing permits, next to the big-ticket permits.
A pressure test seals the gas piping, pressurizes it with air, and holds it against a gauge for a set time. In Garland, the one Texas city whose rule we could read, the city inspector has to be there to see it.
The logic is physical. Gas is off, the system is closed, the pipe is pressurized, a gauge is fitted. If the needle falls, something leaks.
Garland states the sequence plainly. Whoever pulls the permit is responsible for placing an air pressure test on the gas line, the entire gas pipe system must be tested, and “The test must be seen by the City Inspector.” The city tells people not to call for inspection until the test is confirmed holding. That is practical rather than bureaucratic: a failed inspection buys a fee and another day without heat.
The number is what we will not generalize. Test pressure and hold time come from the fuel gas code your city adopted and any local amendment, and the state floor is the Board’s rules, which adopt the 2018 International Plumbing Code and the codes within it, including the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code. We have not read that code’s test article: the publisher does not put the text online free, which is exactly why we will not hand you a number and call it the Texas one. Texas Gas Service tells builders the same in practical terms: customer piping must meet state and city or county requirements for gas piping inspection, testing and purging, and “the length of time and test pressure will also need to meet all local, city and/or state requirements.”
We are not going to print a test pressure or a hold time on this page, and the reason is worth more to you than the number would be. The one Texas city whose gas-test rule we could read publishes both figures, on a page carrying no revision date, so we cannot tell you how current they are. Austin publishes figures that differ sharply from them, on a document marked draft, so we did not quote those either. Two cities, two different answers, neither datable: that is the shape of this rule. Ask the city that will send the inspector. If someone quotes you a psi figure as though it were the Texas one, that is a small tell.
The utility owns the pipe up to and including the meter and you own everything past it, and the two Texas utilities that publish the sequence will not set or restore a meter until the city’s inspection is done and on record.
CenterPoint Energy draws the line in its own words: it maintains “all infrastructure up to and including the meter,” and “You’re responsible for maintaining natural gas piping inside your home or business along with appliances and equipment beyond the meter.” CPS Energy’s Gas Service Standards say the same for San Antonio, and add that CPS “does not assume the duty of inspecting the Customer’s piping, appliances or equipment.”
Atmos Energy publishes the federal notice behind that split. Under 49 CFR 192.16 it tells customers it does not maintain the piping from its meter to the home, that unmaintained buried piping is subject to corrosion and leakage, and that plumbing contractors are the resource for locating and repairing it. That reaches past the house wall, out to a buried line feeding a pool heater or a grill.
The release controls your calendar. CPS Energy tells customers to call it for remodeling, pressure or load changes, or turning gas on or off only “after receiving all required releases from any authority having jurisdiction.” Texas Gas Service turns a meter on once the service lines are available, the correct valves and regulators are installed on the customer side, and “any required inspections, as described under ‘Natural Gas Plumbing,’ have been completed and a notification is on record with us.” Atmos, restoring service after a shutoff, tells customers to use a qualified professional, “Complete city inspection or permit requirements (if applicable),” and only then book the reconnection.
So the inspection is not a formality at the end of the job. Until it clears, you have no gas.
A meter the gas company pulled comes back through a permitted job and a city release, not a patch of the one spot that leaked. Getting it turned back on is its own subject and gets its own page.
That is as far as we take restoration here. What the sequence looks like utility by utility, and what to do after a storm or a leak shutoff, is covered in getting the gas turned back on; this page stops at the fact that the permit and the release are what stand between you and the meter. In Garland, the gas inspection covers every gas appliance, its enclosure and its vents, and checks the water heater’s relief valve and drain, and “Any code violation must be corrected before the gas meter is released.”
Digging has its own rule, and it is statutory rather than a courtesy. Section 251.151 of the Texas Utilities Code requires anyone who intends to excavate to notify a notification center no earlier than the 14th day and no later than the 48th hour before work begins, excluding weekends and legal holidays. CPS Energy gives the homeowner version: call 811 at least 48 hours ahead, providers mark their underground lines at no cost, “It’s free and it’s the law.” Note what the marks leave out. The 811 call brings out the providers, who mark their own underground lines; the buried line you own running past the meter to a grill or a pool heater is not theirs to mark. Atmos makes the ownership half of that explicit in its 49 CFR 192.16 notice, quoted above, and tells customers a plumbing contractor is the resource for locating and repairing customer-owned buried piping.
Get the Responsible Master Plumber’s license number and the permit number in writing before anyone opens a wall, then check the license yourself.
The RMP is the person the state holds responsible: the master plumber authorized to obtain permits, who assumes responsibility for work done under the license and has filed a certificate of insurance with the Board. Section 1301.552 sets that insurance at not less than $300,000 “for all claims arising in a one-year period.” Read the last phrase carefully. Read as written, that is an annual aggregate across every claim against that plumber, not a per-job figure. A city that requires a permit has to verify the certificate on the Board’s website before issuing one. For what the work costs, see what a plumber charges in Texas.
If gas work was done by someone unlicensed, or done badly, the complaint goes to the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. What unpermitted work costs you more generally is on what happens if you skip a plumbing permit. The Board’s rules place complaints involving combustible fuel gases in Priority 1, its most serious investigation tier, naming improperly installed fuel gas lines, gas leaks, explosions, and unlicensed or unpermitted gas work that has not passed inspection. A leak itself belongs to 911 and your utility. Who was allowed to create it is the Board’s question, worth asking once the gas is off.
More: all our Texas permit guides, and everything else we cover under services.
Every figure on this page comes from one of the documents below, each published by the body that sets, measures or administers the thing it describes. We record the document’s own date and the date we read it, because published pages change without notice.
| Source | Document date | We read it |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Occupations Code, Title 8, Chapter 1301 (Plumbers) — §1301.002 definitions, §1301.051 homestead, §1301.053 work incidental to other professions, §1301.055 LP gas installers, §1301.351 license required, §1301.356 medical gas endorsement, §1301.551 municipal ordinances and permits, §1301.552 certificate of insurance | Texas Legislative Council statute text; chapter as amended through Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 618 (H.B. 3214), eff. 2025-09-01 | 2026-09-20 |
| Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — Administrative Rules (22 TAC Part 17, chs. 361, 363, 365, 367) | printed on the cover as MARCH 13, 2026 (UNOFFICIAL VERSION); the Board points to the Texas Secretary of State TAC portal for the official text | 2026-09-20 |
| Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — License Types overview | undated Board page | 2026-09-20 |
| Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251 (Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety) — §251.002 definitions, §251.003 exemptions, §251.151 duty of an excavator | §251.151 added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, §18.17(a), eff. 1999-09-01; §251.152 last amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 858, eff. 2001-11-01 | 2026-09-20 |
| Railroad Commission of Texas — Pipeline Safety | undated page; the operator notice carried on it is dated 2026-08-31 | 2026-09-20 |
| Railroad Commission of Texas — Gas Services | undated page; describes the division as reorganized in January 2015 | 2026-09-20 |
| City of Houston — 2026 Building Code Enforcement Permit Fee Schedule | headed 2026 BUILDING CODE ENFORCEMENT PERMIT FEE SCHEDULE | 2026-10-11 (RE-READ AND CONFIRMED. The 2026 Building Code Enforcement Permit Fee Schedule, 8 pages, PDF created 16 December 2025, read in full as raw PDF text after returning HTTP 429 on 2026-10-09; the 429 was transient. The figures this page uses are confirmed on its face: the PLUMBING PERMIT FEES block prints ‘Minimum Permit Fee $97.56’ and ‘Fixtures (Plumbing) $34.24 - One to three / $11.41 - Each additional’, and the administrative and general block prints ‘Administrative Fee (Non-Refundable) $33.56’. Note for anyone reconciling it against the city’s web pages: the schedule’s GENERAL minimum permit fee is $91.06, which is a different figure from the $97.56 plumbing minimum, and several trade blocks carry the $91.06 line. Houston’s schedule is titled by calendar year with no fiscal dates and Houston’s fiscal year runs July to June, so it does not turn over with the October cities.) |
| City of Garland — Gas Test (Development & Permitting Center, Plumbing Permits) | undated city page; no revision stamp anywhere on it | 2026-09-20 |
| Atmos Energy — Suspect a natural gas leak? | undated page; links a brochure the page calls the 2026 Natural Gas Safety Guide | 2026-09-20 |
| Atmos Energy — Homeowner Safety (customer-owned natural gas lines; 49 CFR 192.16 notice) | undated page | 2026-09-20 |
| Atmos Energy — Need help turning your gas service back on? | undated page | 2026-09-20 |
| CenterPoint Energy — Safety and Emergency Resources (gas leak response; what CenterPoint maintains and what you are responsible for) | no revision stamp; page footer reads Copyright © 2026 CenterPoint Energy | 2026-09-20 |
| Texas Gas Service — New Service Line Installation Guide (PDF) | printed in the footer as Revised 01/22 | 2026-09-20 |
| Texas Gas Service — Construction Services FAQ | undated page | 2026-09-20 |
| CPS Energy — Natural Gas Safety (FAQ) | undated page | 2026-09-20 |
| CPS Energy — Gas Service Standards (PDF) | cover dated March 15, 2021, signed Anthony J. Moy, P.E., Director of Gas Engineering & Planning; copyright 2021 | 2026-09-20 |
| City of Austin — 5.6.2 Gas Plumbing Systems Test Requirements (cited in the body only as a document we declined to quote figures from) | undated; the document’s own first line reads “This language is in the draft form, and is subject to change” | 2026-09-20 |
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