Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

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  • littlecritterz
    littlecritterz Posts: 13 Forumite
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    littlecritterz wrote: »
    I have just moved to a rented property with LPG. The previous tenant was with Calor. The property is part of a large farm estate and the contract I signed with calor was a commercial one as they have a group contract with the estate. My contract is 49.4ppl plus VAT and standing charge of £16.09 per quarter. Since reading the contract I see I have been tied in to a 3 year contract. I was hoping I could pay via monthly budget plan and get a telemetry unit fitted but turns out I cant as I am a tenant (it doesnt state this in my contract...only found out when I called them to set up a budget plan and ask for a telemetry unit to be fitted). Apparantly only homeowners can have a budget plan and telemetry unit!! I am planning on changing supplier as soon as my contract runs out (which unfortunately isnt for 3 years) if possible. I have also been told I cannot choose how much gas to have delivered as they will automatically fill the tank whenever I request a delivery. I wish I had never signed the blooming contract now.
    I am presuming that once my contract runs out I can move to a different supplier as a domestic customer or am I stuck with calor because the estate is part of buying group?

    Just a quick update on this situation. Calor tried bumping my price up by 4ppl recently and had still been refusing to put me onto a domestic contract. I sent them a written complaint and also complained to my local MP. I recently received a letter from Calor apologising for the 'admin' error and advising they would be honouring my original domestic contract, plus £100 free gas plus they are reimbursing me the price difference between the 'commercial' price I have been paying and the 'domestic' price I should have been paying. In addition they are freezing my price for a period of 12 months. So a good result all round :T
    Many thanks to all the advice you gave me on this matter :beer:
  • Bruce_GT3
    Bruce_GT3 Posts: 24 Forumite
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    bry54 wrote: »
    Calor came today and resited and relabelled Countrywide's tank free of charge but it cost me £160 to have the concrete base extended , I'm going to try and reclaim this from Countrywide for siting the tank against regulations.

    Bry,

    I'd be very interested in how you managed to get this done.

    My tank was installed by Calor in 1996 and is in a non-conforming position (next to a telegraph pole with lines running across it and a couple of other "faults"). When I was last out of contract with Calor I had a couple of competitors turn up and none would supply me due to the tank position.

    I've emailed Calor and asked them to look at moving the tank FOC, so we'll see what happens, but it would be good to get an insight in to how you manged it!!
  • Mbday
    Mbday Posts: 41 Forumite
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    edited 8 June 2012 at 1:16PM
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    Bruce, look at my post on page 71(sorry, don't know how to post link) which is dated April 2012. It details how I got a new tank and fire walls for my neighbour. My advise is to email MD and copy to your MP, the OFT AND the Health and Safety Executive. I have provided some relevant links in my post. Based on previous experience with Calor, I ended up having to go via their head office (in Holland I think?) and asking them to forward to UK MD because I couldn't get his details. I did, however, get a very rapid response. Hope that helps.
  • LittleVermin
    LittleVermin Posts: 737 Forumite
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    mbday wrote: »
    Bruce, look at my post on page 71(sorry, don't know how to post link) which is dated April 2012. It details how I got a new tank and fire walls for my neighbour. My advise is to email MD and copy to your MP, the OFT AND the Health and Safety Executive. I have provided some relevant links in my post. Based on previous experience with Calor, I ended up having to go via their head office (in Holland I think?) and asking them to forward to UK MD because I couldn't get his details. I did, however, get a very rapid response. Hope that helps.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=52663901&highlight=#post52663901

    - very useful post so worth putting the link so other people can find it easily.
  • Ace_gas_guzzler
    Ace_gas_guzzler Posts: 56 Forumite
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    Just had a call from Avanti - 40.9p fixed for 6 months or 41.9p fixed for 12 months. Tank rental reduced from £100 p.a. to £60 p.a. Is it possible to do better than this, I wonder?!!:j
  • LittleVermin
    LittleVermin Posts: 737 Forumite
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    Here's the latest graph:

    lpg_price_info.php

    And here's a link to the Bloomberg spot price in USD for Propane (maybe look at the 5Y plot?)

    http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/LPGIECPP%3aIND/chart

    ..... so? Fix a 2 yr contract now? Or wait a bit?

    ...

    (thanks, as usual, to HateLPG for graphical magic)
  • Mister_G
    Mister_G Posts: 1,928 Forumite
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    Bruce_GT3 wrote: »
    Bry,

    I'd be very interested in how you managed to get this done.

    My tank was installed by Calor in 1996 and is in a non-conforming position (next to a telegraph pole with lines running across it and a couple of other "faults"). When I was last out of contract with Calor I had a couple of competitors turn up and none would supply me due to the tank position.

    I've emailed Calor and asked them to look at moving the tank FOC, so we'll see what happens, but it would be good to get an insight in to how you manged it!!

    Hi Bruce

    Please see my post #939 with regard to my "Calor experience". Hope that helps.
  • LittleVermin
    LittleVermin Posts: 737 Forumite
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    edited 8 June 2012 at 4:13PM
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    Mister_G wrote: »
    Hi Bruce

    Please see my post #939 with regard to my "Calor experience". Hope that helps.

    Another very useful post:

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=43397982&postcount=939

    And Mister G's excellent local supplier is HBS in Chilbolton, Hants. See here - and over 99% of us are outside their magic red delivery circle. Shame!
    ..
  • HateLPG
    HateLPG Posts: 464 Forumite
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    Flogas Customers: Take FURTHER Note!

    Further to my post here regarding the OFT/Flogas undertaking and the subsequently revised Flogas contract, careful reading reveals that all is not as it seems and that this is probably NOT good news.

    Sadly, the OFT failed to require a link to an index of wholesale prices, but only a link to increases in that index.

    Flogas, to be fair, have stuck to the letter of the undertaking. But then why shouldn't they? The net effect is that the potential for a price-ratchet is now set out in black and white in the Flogas contract, and there is little if anything the consumer can do to challenge that element of the contract on legal grounds.

    Looking at the LPG graphs posted on this site and applying the price rises as laid out in the Flogas contract based on a start point of the Extra Fuel price 2 years ago, a Flogas customer could, in the worst case and as per the price increase clauses mandated by the OFT, now be paying something in the region of 80 ppl for the privilege of using Flogas.

    I'm quite sure that was not the intention of the OFT - hopefully now that this has been pointed out to them, they will review the undertaking and revise it appropriately.
  • LittleVermin
    LittleVermin Posts: 737 Forumite
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    edited 9 June 2012 at 1:27AM
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    Gazza01 wrote: »
    Hi I have terminated my contract wit BP but it has taken them over 18 months to eventually collect/uplift there gas tank!!!
    My question is I signed a two year contract back in jan 2007 but they now insist that I have to pay the £180 tank uplift fee.Do I legally have to pay this ? As i would have thought that a two year contract expires after 2 years but the claim it keeps running??
    Also when I cancelled the contract I emailed them to say I would bill them for ground rent whilst it was on my land.they say they dont pay un solicitated invoices. Any info on this would be greatly appritiated

    Welcome to the forum.

    I suggest you read both your contract and the Competition Commission final order (here).

    The only bit I found on a quick read was this:
    13. Tank uplift charges
    13.1 When a tank is uplifted, the existing supplier shall not charge the customer or the new supplier any costs directly connected with the uplifting of the existing supplier’s tank.
    BP may argue this only refers to someone switching suppliers.

    But - if I understand you correctly - you completed your 2 year contract - i.e. you did not break it - so I cannot see that BP can penalise you. The point here is that the suppliers get their money for the loan and upkeep of the tank from both the rental AND some proportion of the cost of the LPG (which is partly why low users sometimes get charged a higher annual rental, and high users sometimes/usually can negotiate a better rate per litre).

    If there is NO clause in your contract about a tank uplift charge after the end of the contract I cannot see how they can demand a fee. And, under unfair trading regs 2008, I'm pretty sure the value of the charge would need to be stated in the contract. (check out here - the value of the uplift is "material information" - see section 7.15). You may want to talk to Trading Standards.

    Good luck - and please tell us what happens. And please let Sharon Dias at OFT know....sharon.dias@oft.gsi.gov.uk
    ..
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