Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

LittleVermin

persianharry wrote: »

Hi
I wonder if anyone has an opinion on this: We bought a house about 6 months ago that we are renovating and the heating is Flogas from a large tank in the garden. We have not put any gas in the tank, or signed any sort of contract with flogas, but our name is on an account with them and we have paid their standing charge/rental fee for the tank.

We just phoned them to ask them to take their tank away (changing to a heat pump) and they have said that:
a) We will have to pay them £120
b) We have to give them atleast 1 month's notice in writing.

Now to my way of thinking, I haven't signed anything to that effect so they should just come and take their property back, but does anyone have any expereince of fighting this?

thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum - and thanks for moving your post.

If you have NOT signed a contract I cannot see how they can charge. That'll be covered by Unfair Trading Regs. 2008*.

£120 is/was Flogas's standard charge if you had signed a contract - see here.

One month's notice seems fair enough - especially if they get busy if it gets cold! Make sure you cancel DDs for tank rental in time!

No supplier will give you credit for LPG left in the tank - they cannot transport a tank with more than 2% so have to remove any extra before uplift ..and that means bringing a tanker out as well as the Hi-Ab truck.

Please keep us posted! This problem (and the bluff, for that seems to be what it is) has come up before but no-one has posted what finally happened so far as I know.

*check this lot!
[FONT=&quot]OFT Unfair Trading Regulations 2008:
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/protection[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2008/9780110811574/contents
..
[/FONT]

persianharry

Please keep us posted! This problem (and the bluff, for that seems to be what it
is) has come up before but no-one has posted what finally happened so far as I
know.

Thanks for all the info LittleVermin. I'll give them another call tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

bobhawke

Send them a bill for renting your yard space.

mindovermatter

Hi
I will be very interested in how you get on - I am in exactly the same position.
We are having an ASHP fitted to bolt into our central heating and have a LPG tank in the garden.
I am trying to use up the LPG wisely to tally in with the start of the pump - I bet that Flogas wont pay me for what is in my tank when they come to remove- or will they?????????
Best wishes
Mindovermatter

Invergas

Hi, any and all advice welcome.

We moved in to a rural property 3 years ago. We have a gas tank and fuelcurrently supplied by Gaulds Gas (Aberdeen based). We are not aware of whatcontract is in place, but will check this again. Previous owners also used same supplier, theywere in the property for 10 years.

We pay an annual standing charge of £60 and fuel prices vary depending onmarket prices when they fill the tank.

My issue, in addition to the above, they top up when they are in the areanot at our request. We had a full tank delivery just before Christmas (a lot ofmoney). Got home from work yesterday to see that they had come by to top up, despiteus not really needing it or indeed wanting it (now need to find the money topay for it in January!!)

I need basic advice on LPG contracts, options to switch supplier (at lowcost to us). With best payment options. I have also read on this forum aboutlegislation coming in to effect, is there anything we should be aware of whendiscussing with current and new suppliers?

We attempted to tackle it Christmas time 2 years ago when our daughter wasborn, but it got too stressful at a time where we didn't have the time orenergy to deal with it. It is now my new years resolution to get it sorted toour satisfaction! Help please!!

LittleVermin

Invergas wrote: »

...
We moved in to a rural property 3 years ago. We have a gas tank and fuelcurrently supplied by Gaulds Gas (Aberdeen based). We are not aware of whatcontract is in place, but will check this again. Previous owners also used same supplier, theywere in the property for 10 years.

We pay an annual standing charge of £60 and fuel prices vary depending onmarket prices when they fill the tank.

My issue, in addition to the above, they top up when they are in the areanot at our request. We had a full tank delivery just before Christmas (a lot ofmoney). Got home from work yesterday to see that they had come by to top up, despiteus not really needing it or indeed wanting it (now need to find the money topay for it in January!!)

I need basic advice on LPG contracts, options to switch supplier (at lowcost to us). With best payment options. I have also read on this forum aboutlegislation coming in to effect, is there anything we should be aware of whendiscussing with current and new suppliers?

...

Welcome to the forum.

Domestic bulk LPG contracts cannot last more than 2 years (see here) - so if you moved in 3 years ago the previous owner's contract (if any) would have ended and you would have signed a new contract which would have ended after 2 years. But many users get their LPG from their supplier without a contract (sometimes referred to as 'out of contract', especially when the 2 yr exclusive period has ended - though you still can only get the tank refilled by the tank's owner). Quite possibly Gaulds Gas didn't ask you to sign a contract (some suppliers - e.g. Cardiff Gas - don't). I'd suggest a quick call to them to ask them about this might be the easiest and quickest first step!

Switching should cost nothing, if you are out of contract.

Probably Gaulds should tell you the current price before they top up (see Unfair Trading Regs 2008: links from here). Do they do this? Maybe by email? (my independent supplier emails me).

If Gaulds has given you a hassle-free service with auto-top-ups for the last three years - apart from occasional unexpected bills - I'd think very hard before leaving them! Maybe you could agree on a payment plan - or have a dedicated pot you keep to pay for LPG (since by now you'll know how much, roughly, it costs per month). Or ask them not to top up unless the level is below x%. Or come to an agreement that you'll tell them when the tank is down to x% (so leaving them plenty of time to fit you in on their next run).

I think you are the first Gaulds customer who has posted on the forum so could you tell us a bit more about your experience, please? There are lots of posts about some of the other suppliers you could use!

PS - what's the price per litre for the fill you've just had, please?
..

johnnybebad2000

Thank you for your extensive reply Littlevermin, very helpful.

Hi Invergas, I'm really interested to hear about your experiences, i am in inverurie and looking to move to alford where the houses are either LPG or Oil and the one we like is LPG. The current owners have BP (now flogas or macgas i understand) who seem to get a fair bit of critism their way so Gaulds could be an option for me.

My house is just going on the market next week, so will wait and see what happens with the purchase - i will keep a look out in this thread periodically to keep in the LPG loop. Its a whole world i knew nothing about!

chubbs85240

Hello all.

I live in Aberdeenshire also, so know a little bit about this.

If you look back over the last few pages you'll see my experience and that I eventually went with a 12 month fixed rate at 43.9 ppl with Avanti Gas

Gaulds Gas are a very small outfit, Old Mr Gauld runs it and he has an office administrator, thats it.

There are no contracts, its a small local company, looking to offer a personal local service, they feel if they offer the service, you'll stay with them.

I really wanted to use them, as liked this, and knew regardless of weather, if anyone could get to me, they could, however, there price was around the 53ppl, so it was a nice luxury that I felt I couldn't afford as this would cost me about £350 a year extra

The woman at Gaulds actually told me they were losing loads of customers to Avanti gas (I hadn't even spoke to them at this point)

She also said that Gaulds were unable to buy the Gas from Avanti (shell) in bulk loads for the price that they were offering domestic customers

I felt bad, but phoned Avanti and the rest is history

So to sum up, if you want to see what the options are for someone in Deeside/Donside, then read my previous few posts and phone around and haggle!!

crazyz

All LPG contracts are 2 years long, if they top you up then you must have signed a contract with them at some point and requested them to do so, it would be a good idea to get a copy to check as they can not deliver as and when without your permission although they do not have to tell you the price first.
Top up is the best system, although every 4 weeks seems a bit extreme unless you are a large user.

Providing you have not signed anything in the last 2 years you can switch suppliers, this has no cost attached, but does take a month to complete, while you are looking around I would ask Gaulds to remove your top up, but this means you would have to manage the ordering yourself.

Most companies offer direct debits either budget or amount in full, to get the best deal you will need to know your gas consumption for the year.

Gaulds is a local independent but there are other suppliers that do your area. Avantigas, Macgas (BP) Calor, and J Gas

Invergas wrote: »

Hi, any and all advice welcome.

We moved in to a rural property 3 years ago. We have a gas tank and fuelcurrently supplied by Gaulds Gas (Aberdeen based). We are not aware of whatcontract is in place, but will check this again. Previous owners also used same supplier, theywere in the property for 10 years.

We pay an annual standing charge of £60 and fuel prices vary depending onmarket prices when they fill the tank.

My issue, in addition to the above, they top up when they are in the areanot at our request. We had a full tank delivery just before Christmas (a lot ofmoney). Got home from work yesterday to see that they had come by to top up, despiteus not really needing it or indeed wanting it (now need to find the money topay for it in January!!)

I need basic advice on LPG contracts, options to switch supplier (at lowcost to us). With best payment options. I have also read on this forum aboutlegislation coming in to effect, is there anything we should be aware of whendiscussing with current and new suppliers?

We attempted to tackle it Christmas time 2 years ago when our daughter wasborn, but it got too stressful at a time where we didn't have the time orenergy to deal with it. It is now my new years resolution to get it sorted toour satisfaction! Help please!!

johnnybebad2000

chubbs85240 wrote: »

Hello all.

I live in Aberdeenshire also, so know a little bit about this.

If you look back over the last few pages you'll see my experience and that I eventually went with a 12 month fixed rate at 43.9 ppl with Avanti Gas

Gaulds Gas are a very small outfit, Old Mr Gauld runs it and he has an office administrator, thats it.

There are no contracts, its a small local company, looking to offer a personal local service, they feel if they offer the service, you'll stay with them.

Thanks for this, Im just finding my way round the thread and having a look of your other posts. Do you own your tank?
Also, where abouts in the Shire are you and what size of house do you have. I'm looking at a 4 bed and thinking 3000 litres a year is what i would use roughly?