Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

kassy64

Can’t really help as my contract expires Jan next year and suppliers are reluctant to quote whilst in contract. Currently paying 38ppl plus vat. Would like to re contract now as prices could be sky high by Jan. update the page with how you get on as I for one will be watching with interest good luck. 

Woggle

54.9ppl plus 5% VAT with Calor for me (so 57.65ppl in total). We fixed at the end of June for year (it's unfortunately variable for the second with a limit on the price increase or I can go elsewhere). We are in the South West (Gloucestershire). On top of this we pay 17.28p per day plus 5% for the standing charge (so 18.14p per day).

The mains gas energy cap is at 14.758p per KwH from October (for ease I'm excluding the daily charge of 28.485p per day). If you converted that to a litre of propane (x7.08) you'd be looking I think at 104.4ppl which is of course ridiculous!

So I'm guessing anything less than that is cheaper than mains gas from October (I've seen some people being quoted 80ppl plus for LPG) - at least LPG isn't at the moment the 3x cost of main gas that people have said it used to be.

Lets hope if they do remove VAT from bills it also applies to LPG.

PS - feel free to correct me on my rough calculations!

Cheery_Daff

50ppl + 5% VAT for me (further north). Can't remember standing charge. Signed a 2 year fix with Avanti a couple of months ago (which they may now be regretting - it seemed to be an actual fixed price for 2 years with no scope to raise in the second). I think we'd been paying 39.9ppl before, but we didn't have much choice - local wanted 58ppl and Calor weren't taking customers. Happy with a 2 year fix at this point though! 

Mister_G

mcmullank said:

Sorting_Hat said:

What you may find is it will be difficult for you to switch to another firm since many are either doing physical surveys or "online" ones.

The 2019 self survey from one of the majors has the following.

It is essential to the safety of the site occupier, ******* employees and members of the public that

LPG be distributed, stored, maintained and used in a safe manner. *****are full members of

UKLPG (the United Kingdom Liquefied Petroleum Gas trade association) and to meet a minimum

standard of safety across the industry, all LPG installations should be compliant with the relevant

UKLPG Codes of Practice. So we can be satisfied your LPG installation does comply, we have

produced a series of questions. Please answer the questions as accurately and honestly as possible

and in plenty of detail, any incorrect information may result in ******* being unable to deliver to you"

You tank will have notes that would be passed to any incoming supplier (at the preliminary switch stage) at which point the incoming firm could decline to accept or accept but choose to fit their own tank.

These rules are being enforced, perhaps more so than in the past but they are being enforced.

At the stage where the existing firm has had its tank rejected, that could be the point when you tank could no longer be filled as now the existing firm has been "made aware" that there are issues by the rejecting company.

My tank is allegedly visually inspected every fill.  Either this is carried out by people not qualified to inspect the tank or the incumbent is fully aware of the tank non-compliance.

It is complete nonsense to have the current supplier filling the tank for 2 years and then when you want to switch for the new supplier to say "sorry, tank isn't compliant with UKLPG codes".  The tanks don't move and what this indicates is that your current supplier is filling an "illegal" tank.  A tank which they own and allegedly maintain. 

This inconsistency shows that the issue isn't really around safety but more likely commercial interests taking priority.

Yes, with 40 years experience of being an LPG customer with 4 different suppliers, I totally agree with this last statement!

Lisa_mj

Cheery_Daff said:

...Calor weren't taking customers. 

I'm horrified that in a market with already only a limited number of suppliers (and so a limited choice for consumers), one of the biggest suppliers can just decide they won't take on any new customers, restricting choice (and competition) even further. Absolutely disgusting 😤

LittleVermin

Lisa_mj said:

Cheery_Daff said:

...Calor weren't taking customers. 

I'm horrified that in a market with already only a limited number of suppliers (and so a limited choice for consumers), one of the biggest suppliers can just decide they won't take on any new customers, restricting choice (and competition) even further. Absolutely disgusting 😤

Lisa, maybe you should be congratulating Calor for being honest? A quick Google would have let you discover there's a shortage of tanker drivers. There's also a shortage of gas bottles. Anyway, Calor not taking on more customers for bulk deliveries seems honourable. BTW some winters ago (pre-Covid) at least one major supplier was running tankers round the clock (with their engineers also driving): the previous hard winter many users had been let down with no deliveries. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/avanti-gas-calor-gas-and-flogas-customers-waiting-for-lpg-deliveries-a4dd13I7gPMm

Badger04

Back on tanks. I wanted to check situation about safety with my underground tank. Rang flogas and they sent out an engineer to check. He did a full inspection and we agreed to put in posts to stop possibility of driving over tank. This is really important as underground tank covers will not take the weight of a car on them and you could have a serious uncontrollable release if the top of the tank broke.
Also, he gave me a new label to point out to emergency services where the gas cut off on the outside of the house is situated. If you have a fire in the house the fire brigade need to cut off the supply. If they cannot find this it will delay them. This is obviously an important safety point both for you and the fire brigade. It will also ensure there are no questions about compliance with your insurer if god forbid you have a fire. The Flogas engineer was very helpful and used common sense re suggestions for the tank and fittings. LPG is a flammable gas and needs to be treated with respect. There is an issue with older tanks and new regulations, but they were introduced to improve the safety of you, your family and your neighbours. If you are in any way concerned contact your supplier and discuss what needs to be done. I hope this helps!

kassy64

Good post above. Will definitely ask for a safety inspection next contract I sign up to. Mines in garden under ground and have no youngsters anymore so the lid does not even get foot traffic but could do if I move on and next occupiers have kids. Having said that my lid (free) seems pretty sturdy but as said probably wouldn’t take vehicle traffic. 

heather8

Can anyone in North or West Yorkshire recommend suppliers please, other than Avanti or Flogas.  I have used the link in previous post and there is only one other the one listed which is the one I currently used.  I would prefer an independent.

Many thanks.

callenbll

We took out a fixed contract with Northern Energy back in October 2020. You would say we were lucky with fixing at 35ppl. However (and my own fault for not reading the small print), their clause allowed them to increase the price if the ANSI price rose. The result was 85ppl earlier in the year, with no way of exiting the contract. Scandalous, as it's obvious they wouldn't have dropped my price if the market price went down. My DD had to go up from £125 to £275/month to pay off the balance, so pretty crippling.

Fair to say, I won't be using them again, and would certainly not recommend them to anyone. However the contract ending in October, I can't see this putting me in a much stronger position. As I see it, a couple of options:

1) Look around for new suppliers/new contract. However, that's certainly not going to be at a good price.
2) Stick with the current rogues until the price (hopefully) drops and then look for a new contract.

Also, if I'm out of contract, does that allow me to call round any independent suppliers and have them fill the tank? Any thoughts are more than welcome.

Thanks