Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

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  • drfrot
    drfrot Posts: 16 Forumite
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    Well, after my less than enjoyable relationship with Countrywide (see my previous threads), which has left me with a price of 60.85ppl, I am again in the market for moving on, and have been using all the sterling advice here in the forum to get the best price (thanks everyone)!

    My results so far (we live in South Wales), from the companies that appear when I put our postcode into the LPG UK website:
    Countrywide - Farewell, adios, so long and thanks for all the unreasonable and constant price hikes...
    Flogas - You must be joking. Didn't even bother.
    Shell - Don't supply our postcode, in spite of appearing in the list
    BP - Ditto
    ExtraFuel - 49ppl, as stated on their website; most expensive tank rental of the lot, as it's underground
    Callow Gas - they're double checking, but they think we're outside their delivery range
    Calor - 47ppl, with the usual contract clauses. Have been fast responders and sent me a blank contract to read, no questions
    Cardiff Gas - 43ppl :) These have been the surprise package, I guess falling in to that "Small, independent supplier" category we're all looking for. Pleasant chat on the phone, prices have been known to go down as well as up, no contract ("If you can bothered going through the faff of swapping again, and you're not happy with us, then by all means feel free to leave")...

    I'd be very interested to hear if anyone's got any experience of them. They're at cargas-lpg. co . uk. Interestingly, they were surprised to hear I was leaving Countrywide as "they're generally very reasonable and competitively priced", which obviously doesn't sit with being charged 12ppl more than the average!

    Here's hoping I've struck lucky(er) this time...
  • GrandadRob
    GrandadRob Posts: 91 Forumite
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    Don't get too stressed out about this illegal siting of tanks issue.
    It would seem that only the very large companies will turn you down. Check the smaller ones out before caving-in and getting the tank moved.
  • budgie123_2
    budgie123_2 Posts: 58 Forumite
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    In addition to the increase I quoted below, 6 months ago in this thread. I have this morning had a letter from Flogas increasing the price AGAIN by another 8p per litre!

    So, in the space of 6 months, we have a 16p per litre increase!! Shocking! From 35p to 51p per litre. This means on 1,000 litres, an extra £150!!!! This is utterly infuriating and will add roughly £650 - £700 onto our yearly LPG bill (that is both increases, each of the increases will add around £300 - £350). And they have the cheek to reassure me that this will be fixed for 6 months!

    Now that it will do much good, I am writing to my MP today to complain about this.

    Am too disgusted and furious to say any more right at this moment :mad:

    budgie123 wrote: »
    Hi, just adding some information incase it might help anyone.

    Got an email from [STRIKE]the cowboys[/STRIKE] Flogas today saying that the lpg price will be going up by 8p a litre due to the Middle East crisis (as of 31st March). Am in south-west Scotland.

    So, am going from 35p a litre to 43p a litre. An almost 20% jump, with a ridiculous 2 days warning from Flogas. Now, compared to what other people seem to be paying on here, I'm not really complaining, and also we were originally offered the 35p fixed rate till March 31st 2011 on the basis of renewing our contract last year.

    However, this increase equates to roughly £300-£350 a year increase for us, or £72 on the average tank. Disgraceful Flogas!


  • frankie
    frankie Posts: 846 Forumite
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    seems the lpg supplier are jumping on the bandwagon of the 'big six' by implementing a round of price increases. Not really that surprising when they only need the very slightest excuse to increase prices. It is so frustrating that there is not a damn thing can be done about it.

    Still now that there are signs of stability in Libya and brent crude dropping, we can expect to see a decrease in the near future!!
  • GrandadRob
    GrandadRob Posts: 91 Forumite
    edited 8 September 2011 at 7:35PM
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    Still now that there are signs of stability in Libya and brent crude dropping, we can expect to see a decrease in the near future!![/QUOTE]

    Now that would be a novelty......whoever suggested any link between the prices of (all) fuels and the state of the supply market.

    I suffered Flogas for 13 years, and the price never fell.....NOT ONCE.


    But we live in hope for change.....................:rotfl::rotfl:
  • HateLPG
    HateLPG Posts: 464 Forumite
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    ... but it's a start:

    http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2011/09/oft-takes-action-to-stop-heating-oil-sites-misleading-consumers

    Now we just have to wait and see if they find evidence of any problems in the LPG sector and more importantly, whether they decide to do anything positive about it, or just (as they have done in the past) nicely ask the LPG suppliers to "clean up their act a bit".

    The Final OFT report is due out next month (supposedly).

    Here's hoping!
  • heather8
    heather8 Posts: 139 Forumite
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    Well I have been shopping around and only had 1 company come back to me.

    Extra gas offered 48p per litre or 52p per litre fixed for 12 months.

    BDS wanted 59p, but I have now asked them if they can fix at 52p per litre. They have come back and said yes but for 6 months.

    My tank is currently 70% full anyway, so I think i will go with BDS at 52p per litre for 6 months. They have always given really good customer service in the past and came out in the snow too.

    The other companies I approached have not replied, so crap customer service as far as I'm concerned.

    Prices are for the Skipton area.
  • HateLPG
    HateLPG Posts: 464 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    An idea has just popped into my head that may (or may not) have value or make sense, but nevertheless, I think it's worth sharing:

    At present, LPG wholesale pricing is extremely unstable and unpredictable. This means prices could continue rising sharply or could plummet - and any serious shift in the political situation in many parts of the world could have a significant impact on pricing. Equally, any significant shift in the sterling/dollar exchange rate could cause prices to vary significantly (wholesale prices now are some 20% - 25% higher than they would be if the exchange rate was the same as it was in 2005). How it's going to go is anybody's call. If you sign up for a fixed (or at least contractually capped) two year contract and prices keep rising, your supplier stands to lose; If you sign and prices fall, you lose.

    Now, we're all mired in the "an LPG contract lasts for two years, end of story mentality", but that's not strictly true: an LPG contract lasts for a maximum period of two years. Given the way that wholesale LPG pricing is going (and if you are an optimist and believe that it will actually drop again in 12 months or so) it could well be worth while haggling with your supplier to see if they will offer a one year contract. If your supplier feels that prices are likely to rise sharply (and they've been known to be wrong), they might just go for that. It's a gamble, but one that might be worth considering - if prices have indeed dropped again in 12 months time, you will most likely get a far better renewal offer then than you would now, and will save the pain of being stuck in an artificially highly priced contract (we all know the majority of LPG suppliers won't drop their prices if the wholesale price falls).

    (P.S. Hope this all makes some degree of sense - it's clear to me, but I'm rushing to post this before they switch the forum off at 2300hrs, so it might not be as carefully written as I would like!)
  • imac999
    imac999 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Been using bulk lpg for 20 years ... around 3000 litres annually in Central Scotland. Current supplier (BPLPG) won't budge from 43.95, best quote from Flogas 42.5, Calor 47.4, Johnston 52.5 ... tho' they're supplying my neighbour at 44.0. All prices exclude VAT @ 5%.

    Flogas has a bad press in the reviews and my experience with BPLPG has been good ... although they didn't deal very well with correspondence about several closely spaced price hikes last year.

    Anyone got anything good to say about Flogas? ... or better the devil you know ?
  • GrandadRob
    GrandadRob Posts: 91 Forumite
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    You will see more adverts for hens teeth than good reports about Flogas. Just go back a few pages on this forum and read the comments for yourself.
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