Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

razorbridge

JerryW said:

Why not phone them, and ask?

I plan to.

Mister_G

Andrew1066 said:

May I ask who your local independent is please in case they do my area?
Thank you 

HBS Chilbolton - Just Google for further info.

Basically cover Hamphire/Wiltshire

Mister_G

razorbridge said:

JerryW said:

Why not phone them, and ask?

I plan to.

Welcome to the wonderful unregulated world of LPG!

LittleVermin

razorbridge said:

Hi, does anyone know why on www.extrafuel.co.uk (which I believe are just extragas really) it shows a price of 54p together with a banner of "LPG at wholesale prices", and you are all quoting prices far less than that price?

As Jerry suggested: please phone them. Extragas and Extrafuel are indeed sister companies, I believe.
Over the years many independent suppliers (and there are fewer and fewer of them .... one of the aims of the market orders in 2008 was to INCREASE competition!) have said that they do NOT publicise their prices because they know that the majors will ALWAYS  undercut them to keep (or get) customers and do an uneconomical deal to maintain their market share. With lots and lots of loyal customers paying way over the market rate the majors can easily afford to do this. "Domestic bulk LPG market"? - pull the other one! Here is the latest info (I think) on the market orders (or, formally: .Domestic Bulk Liquefied Petroleum Gas Market Investigation Order and the Domestic Bulk Liquefied Petroleum Gas Market Investigation (Metered Estates) Order).
HateLPG used to post a plot each month of the prices he found on-line, alongside the wholesale rate (corrected to pence per litre ...i.e. in sterling, not US $). There were fewer and fewer prices published on-line...and first Pratts (the wholesale index the majors use) was impossible to get hold off without paying £££ and then later ANSI (Argus North Sea Index) was problematical. If you search for Pratts and ANSI in this forum you'll find several forumites sleuthing and discovering one or both of these freely available in different places (a North American uni library, a Chinese shipping co, a shipping site in the Netherlands....) but the window always closed after a few months.

virgil7

LittleVermin said:

I negotiated a 2 yr deal with Extragas - which may be based in Manchester but subcontracts deliveries to other suppliers where necessary (in my case Flogas - no problems: I deal with Extragas and the Flogas tanker fills my tank here in Cornwall).

Thanks for that LittleVermin, I've recently moved into a property in Launceston with a Calor tank. The previous owner paid 56pp back in January. I've had oil heating in 3 previous properties here in Cornwall, so bulk LPG is a new one on me.

JerryW

Companies should be arrested, for charging 56p/l shouldn't they? It is so immoral, even if it is not actually illegal. I assume that was Calor, which is one of the very worst offenders. Their engineers and drivers are fine, but their sales effort is just scum.

I have had an offer of 29p/l fixed for 24 months today in the post, from LPG Save... almost exactly HALF that price.

virgil7, you can do as well or better with lpg as you can with oil, (29p/l not bad even for oil?) .. and it is cleaner and more environmentally friendly and cannot easily be stolen, as oil is. The only difference is that now you will have to have your wits about you, because the big players will skin you alive, given the opportunity. You just have to dig in and get a good deal..

heather8

I’ve just renewed with Robinsons who are Harrogate based and from looking at companies house info the directors have a few different gas companies.  Really decent pricing comparable with others and a nice simple contract.

virgil7

JerryW said:

Companies should be arrested, for charging 56p/l shouldn't they? It is so immoral, even if it is not actually illegal. I assume that was Calor, which is one of the very worst offenders. Their engineers and drivers are fine, but their sales effort is just scum.

I have had an offer of 29p/l fixed for 24 months today in the post, from LPG Save... almost exactly HALF that price.

virgil7, you can do as well or better with lpg as you can with oil, (29p/l not bad even for oil?) .. and it is cleaner and more environmentally friendly and cannot easily be stolen, as oil is. The only difference is that now you will have to have your wits about you, because the big players will skin you alive, given the opportunity. You just have to dig in and get a good deal..

Thanks for that JerryW, the worst thing is that the previous owner of this house was in her 80's!!
"the big players will skin you alive, given the opportunity"
I've been around for a mighty long time and am well aware of con artists and money-grabbing bar stewards ;-)

JerryW

virgil7 said:

Thanks for that JerryW, the worst thing is that the previous owner of this house was in her 80's!!
"the big players will skin you alive, given the opportunity"
I've been around for a mighty long time and am well aware of con artists and money-grabbing bar stewards ;-)

Good for you .. but it is SO annoying to me that the ones they prey on the most, are the ones least able to fight back. There are elderly folk all over Britain who are effectively subsidising these rapacious companies' profits. It is plain wicked, imo. At least most scams are illegal, this one apparently is not.

One thing I am doing, and that anyone savvy enough to be on here can do too, is to put something into your local paper or parish magazine, to offer a little guidance to anyone on lpg who is paying (say) 40p/l or more.. I just give an email address and have a prepared email I send them. If you want to go further, you can organise a local buying syndicate. Which might even help to get your own price down a little ..

virgil7

JerryW said:

virgil7 said:

Thanks for that JerryW, the worst thing is that the previous owner of this house was in her 80's!!
"the big players will skin you alive, given the opportunity"
I've been around for a mighty long time and am well aware of con artists and money-grabbing bar stewards ;-)

Good for you .. but it is SO annoying to me that the ones they prey on the most, are the ones least able to fight back. There are elderly folk all over Britain who are effectively subsidising these rapacious companies' profits. It is plain wicked, imo. At least most scams are illegal, this one apparently is not.

One thing I am doing, and that anyone savvy enough to be on here can do too, is to put something into your local paper or parish magazine, to offer a little guidance to anyone on lpg who is paying (say) 40p/l or more.. I just give an email address and have a prepared email I send them. If you want to go further, you can organise a local buying syndicate. Which might even help to get your own price down a little ..

You're a good man Jerry. We've lived in Cornwall for the last 23 years, and all I've ever seen is those smelly green oil tanks
I'll remember your suggestion re: the local paper/parish magazine idea + the local buying syndicate. I used to belong to an oil buying club, but never used much oil pa as we had an 8kw multi-fuel stove which heated the whole property.
There is a fireplace here (1930's house) but it's bricked up - if we get (feel) any colder I'll be opening it up