Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

HateLPG

DrMekon wrote: »

My wife currently has it in her head that we need a wood burning stove, so I suspect I'll need to spend some time on here to figure out whether that will be worthwhile

Well, a wood burning stove can have a lot to commend it (provided you can get good quality seasoned hardwood to burn at a good price). You also need to make sure you get the right size stove for the room in question - too small and it will not do the business; too large and they can end up kicking out so much heat it can get uncomfortable - in my experience, you can get them to burn slowly enough, but it you've got a large firebed, you still need to cover it to work properly, which restricts how "little" heat it kicks out! You could also consider dual fuel stoves (Coal/Wood). I've never actually burned coal in ours (I hate the stuff - nasty and messy), but it is designed to burn both types of fuel should we so wish. Coal needs an airflow from underneath to burn properly, whereas wood burns best with topflow air and a "closed" grate so the grate/venting design of the stove dictates which fuel(s) you can/can't burn in it.

It depends on the layout of your house, but if you mainly tend to live in one room, as many people do, a stove wil give you a very viable alternative to heating your living space. You can also get stoves with a back boiler that will heat water in a number of radiators or in a hot water tank. One word of warning if you consider those - make sure you get a heating engineer who knows what he's doing - the woodburner MUST be connected to a radiator etc to dump the heat, or it could boil up. Also, as far as I am aware, they pretty much always need to be connected to an OPEN vented system, whereas your typical modern boiler runs a pressurised closed system, so it is NOT as simple as just linking the woodburner to your exsiting system - that side of things needs to be designed by a heating engineer who knows what he's doing. But probably still well worth looking into. A well designed stove is dead simple to maintain and clean, and can really make even the biggest room dead cosy!

And unlike LPG, a woodburning stove and a cosy living room will ALWAYS be a good selling point if ever you decide to move

GrandadRob

Great idea, we have two in our house. Main problem is that their popularity is driving the price of logs up. Our one in the centre of the house NEVER goes out, October to April. It is only a small one
but chucks out loads of heat. Make sure you buy a good one, not a cheapo. The good ones have internal draughting systems which will keep the glass clean always. Expect to pay nearly £1000 for a small/good quality one. Then the chimney will have to be lined, and backfilled with vermiculite to keep the flue hot. Do it PROPERLY and they are marvellous. As was said before a wonderful selling point, and keep the LPG bit under wraps...............

voisin

Go to the 'main site' then go to "50 word Moneyfesto - 2011"
and add your two pennyworth, this what I have written, I'm sure there are lots of you out there who can be much more eloquent.



"There should be legislation to regulate the price of domestic LPG gas .
The prices charged are enormously varied and extortionate.
Having to be tied into a 2 year contract enables the supplier to progressively increase prices every few months.
All suppliers should have to openly declare their price per litre."

Den2Mark

Hi Voisin, Your '50 Word Moneyfesto' LPG suggestion is a good idea - I would like to thank you on the Idea, but could you say what page and #number it is please? There are currently 32 pages, and #627 ideas, and I would prefer not to read them all! I believe MSE will select the top 50 according to the number of thanks each Idea gets.

voisin

Thanks for that Den2Mark.
The page is 24 and the number is 477.
I suppose if most people on this thread put a 'thank you' there it could go a long way to getting it considered.

LittleVermin

voisin wrote: »

Thanks for that Den2Mark.
The page is 24 and the number is 477.
I suppose if most people on this thread put a 'thank you' there it could go a long way to getting it considered.

please click on:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=39205254&postcount=477

and add your thanks!

voisin

Thanks littlevermin (sure you're not!)
I tried to put a link but it wouldn't let me, something about not having posted enough and concerns of spam.
Good luck all LPGers--our day will come!!!

MaritzUK

Good move voisin - I've added my thanks!

LittleVermin

albyota wrote: »

absolute rip off sheisters, get rid of LPG and replace with an Air Source Heat Pump boiler......

albyota, that post was from August 2009 but I doubt if your views on LPG suppliers has changed much over the last year, despite the Competition Commission order! So maybe you'd support voisin's post trying to get some transparency:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=39205254&postcount=477

Some people can't switch to ASHP because of planning regs, upfront costs, etc but I'm sure you'd still recommend people look at the ASHP thread.

mike817217

Hi everybody my first post

In the early part of November I received a letter from FlowGas advising me that I could now change my gas supplier without having to change the tank. If I were to choose FlowGas I could expect an average savings of 25%.

I gave the chap a call and explained that in Nov 2008 I had signed a 3 year contract with Shell so I thought that I would not be eligible. He informed me that because of a change in current legislation only two year contracts were now enforceable and that it could be applied retrospectively. So in short I was OK.

Within a short space of time I was offered 35ppl for a 6 month period with a £100 ‘free’ LPG offer.
All of the paper work and transfer details would be handled by FlowGas and I could expect to be a FlowGas client in about 4 weeks time. A site visit was agreed.

On 10th of November I signed the paper work to authorise FlowGas to arrange an account transfer from Shell.

In recap -:
An agreed price of 35ppl for a period of 6 months, £60 per year rental and £100 of ‘free’ LPG. I was told that the process usually takes about four weeks to complete.

I had signed a three year contract with Shell on the 28/11/2008 but since the Competition Commissions recommendations had come into place all contracts could only be for a max of two years and as such my contract was up for renewal on the 29/11/2010.

On or about the 17/11/2010 I received, unsolicited, a new contract for signing from Shell with a price of 47ppl. As a result I telephoned Shell and asked to speak to my account manager. I was informed that my account manager had changed and that her name was Allison Parnell. She was currently busy and would be in touch.

I contacted Iain Hill the FlowGas sales manager on or about the 24th of November to enquire about progress. I was informed that all was progressing OK.

I contacted Iain again on the 6th of December only to be informed later that I was ineligible to change suppliers. I subsequently contacted FlowGas’s head office the next day and arranged for an employee named ‘Russell’ to call me back. He called back later and informed me that FlowGas had been contacted by Shell stating I was still under contract and that it was my responsibility to contact Shell and sort the problem out. I then enquired as to the possibility of arranging a delivery of LPG before Christmas. I was told that this was most unlikely because of the current position of progress in the exchange process. After several more minutes of quite unhelpful conversation I gave up with this very obnoxious person and wondered if his role was to dissuade customers to choose FlowGas. If so he was doing a sterling job and should be given a bonus!

I contacted Shell that day and asked to speak to Allison Parnell but was unable to and so left a message for her to contact me. I also placed an LPG order that was subsequently delivered to next day. As usual I was impressed with the delivery from Shell as Iain had quoted me a Five day lead time for deliveries.

I have now tried to contact Alisson Parnell at Shell several times over the last few days but have been unsuccessful.

I have in the mean time received a copy of the signed paper work and proposed contract from FloGas. It all seems fine except for one thing. There appears to be no cap on future LPG price rises with an option for me to cancel the contract. I feel that this leaves me some what exposed with no option to leave.

I am also considering other suppliers which have this clause eg Calor.

Another aspect for consideration is pursuing Shell for compensation. This has occurred as a direct result of having to purchase 1525litres of LPG at my current price of 47ppl from Shell because of incorrect information supplied to FloGas about my contractual state with them and as such stalling the transfer process which would have left me with no LPG over the Christmas period.

Currently I am uncertain as to what path to take.

Any thoughts ?