Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

H0Ls wrote: »

Hi All,

We have recently moved into a house with an LPG tank which is owned by Calor but not under contract. The contractual rate we have been offered by Calor is dreadful so we don't want to stay with them. The cheapest contract we have been offered is with flogas, but having read reviews on this site they don't seem like a good option so at the
Moment our preferred company is Cardiff gas, but it is much cheaper with them if you own your own tank. Does anybody else own there own tank and is this the most cost effective way to buy LPG? We would really like to move the tank so presumably if we own it this would be much easier?

Any advice greatly received as we are new to LPG........

Welcome to the forum...and the magic world of LPG.

I posted about owning your own tank last November: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63676643&postcount=2121

Some comments* following my post can be replied to here: OFT has no view on tank-ownership, I believe ..but major suppliers were very strongly against it when the Competition Commission suggested it in 2004-06 (the suppliers' names have been redacted but all the stuff is in the National Archives** now, if you've a spare hour or two. Basically, I believe, the big suppliers didn't want users to have the freedom to shop around).

There's no problem with the annual inspection - so long as you get a fill at least once a year (yes, the tanker driver does this - and on my delivery ticket he has to sign off doing it. It's a visual and sniff test!). The 10 yr test has to be done by a qualified Gas Safe engineer (qualified for LPG, that is): Cardiff Gas, etc will point you in the right direction. These guys also work for the majors, and do tests for mobile home estates, etc. You keep the test certificates (you've paid for the tests. £250 or so rings a bell - but you need to check!) and can show these to suppliers.

Everything posted on the forum about Cardiff Gas has been very positive - why not give them a ring? I'm sure they'll point you in the direction of an engineer they like!

At least one person has bought an in-situ tank from their suppliers (it would take a long time to find the post(s)!). There's a price formula produced by the Competition Commission*** - normally used for supplier to supplier transactions. I wouldn't buy a tank unless it was relatively new (suppliers often remove tanks at 20 yrs for a major refurb ..though tanks can, and do, go on much longer). I wouldn't buy a tank if there wasn't a range of independent suppliers available - we know what the majors think about users owning their own tanks!

And, BTW, there are H&S laws but the main thing 'governing' bulk tanks is the industry's (i.e. UKLPG - the trade association) CoP (Codes of Practice). HateLPG got a letter back from HSE in response to a query in 2011: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=42205844&postcount=844

* by Seraphinaoflondon, PaulF81 aand shambly
** http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.competition-commission.org.uk/inquiries/current/gas/
*** in here (Schedule 1): http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/inquiries/current/gas/lpg_order_final.pdf
..

We've just signed up with Calor for 39ppl fixed for 12 months plus £250 cashback

and a 3p cap at 6 month intervals for the 2nd year


We use about 3000-4000 litres a year and we are in west Sussex (RH12)


Flogas quoted me 40ppl and £175

Lima Gas tracker prices for 2014 :
January 42ppl
February 40ppl

Twitcher2013 wrote: »

Being a sceptic about something seeming too good to be true I just wondered if anyone out there is supplied by Cardiff gas. No contract, tracks lpg rates only downside is pay outright.

If you look at the graph (latest is here) you will see that Cardiff Gas prices track wholesale. Ish! Which, IMHO is a actually a GOOD thing.

What the chart shows is that they do NOT react immediately to every little twitch in wholesale price, but it is pretty clear that as far as possible, they try to smooth the price out over the year. The (slight) downside is that on some occasions you might may a slightly greater margin over wholesale, but this is more or less balanced by the times that you will be paying a slightly smaller margin. But what it DOES mean is that you are far less likely to get an unpleasant surprise. And of course, their pricing is transparent and the latest prices are available online on the Cardiff Gas microsite.

As with most (if not all) of the independents, I suspect they wont offer any kind of tank telemetry system, but will rely on a combination of previous usage history, applied common sense or a call from the customer to schedule a delivery. When I first moved to such a system, I was admittedly a little nervous, but is really is not a problem as by-and-large it seems they can predict usage pretty reliably.

You also have the REAL benefit of being able to pick up the phone and speak to someone who cares and (over time) may even get to "know" you, rather than some large, impersonal, couldn't-care-less-that-the-price-has-skyrocketed call-centre!

I'd say go for it - you've got nothing to lose and a lot to gain.