Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

Tinhat

They are declining to quote because when a new supplier takes over a tank, they have to buy the tank from the previous supplier. 

The tank has a value dependent on its age and a new tank is valued much more than an old tank (they depreciate the tank by a certain percentage for each year since installation). 

Good luck sorting your new contract but seems like around 50p per litre for a fixed two year contract is the going rate with the mainstream suppliers. Independents are probably a bit cheaper, if you can find one. 

chippyhouse

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

JerryW

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

chippyhouse

JerryW said:

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

JerryW

chippyhouse said:

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

The tank should be fine I think. It belongs to Flogas, and they have a legal duty to make it legally compliant if it is not. So they will have to keep filling it or admit a legal issue! If you move supplier they will transfer ownership from Flogas to them, probably after a survey to check it.

Running out of gas completely is not advised, possibility of air gaps and a need for boiler priming etc.

chipsmum

Tinhat said:

They are declining to quote because when a new supplier takes over a tank, they have to buy the tank from the previous supplier. 

The tank has a value dependent on its age and a new tank is valued much more than an old tank (they depreciate the tank by a certain percentage for each year since installation). 

Good luck sorting your new contract but seems like around 50p per litre for a fixed two year contract is the going rate with the mainstream suppliers. Independents are probably a bit cheaper, if you can find one. 

I so wish there were proper price comparison sites for LPG tariffs like there are for Electricity. It's like the wild west out there when you are trying to negotiate a new contract.

LPG Save do not appear to be independent and seem to invariably recommend Flogas. The owner apparently used to be a Flogas employee and some feedback on a review site suggested they post fake reviews from customers. No idea if there is any truth in that or not.

Anyway to my question ! I live in a rural area with a limited choice of bulk domestic LPG suppliers. The cheapest one came out to do a tank inspection but is unable to take on the supply as he only has large tankers in his fleet that are too wide for my single track road. I now have the choice of two contracts left ;

2 year fixed rate from local independent company at 55ppl 

OR

1 year fixed rate at 47.9ppl followed by a maximum increase of 3.5ppl in any given quarter in year 2. However, this is not a cap, it's just a guarantee that I can cancel the contract without penalty in year 2 if price increases by more than 3.5ppl in a quarter..

Anybody got any thoughts on which is the best option ? TIA

Sorting_Hat

chippyhouse said:

JerryW said:

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

Did you find the guage?

if the tank is aboveground it will be under the hinged cover on top.
If it is underground it will be under the hinged cover as well.

chippyhouse

Sorting_Hat said:

chippyhouse said:

JerryW said:

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

Did you find the guage?

if the tank is aboveground it will be under the hinged cover on top.
If it is underground it will be under the hinged cover as well.

I did, it was right infront of me I just didn't look under the little lid! we've got 30% left so I'd like to get it topped up soonish.

In response to another point raise about not running out of gas completely being unadvisable, we definitely don't plan to, but the previous occupiers did (rather often by the sounds of it). Can some explain, what it does to your boiler/why it's so bad? For some more context the boiler here keeps turning off - landlord is try to say its 'overheating' but I'm certain that's incorrect, its too frequent and the boiler is new-ish. 

y-o-r-k-y

chippyhouse said:

Sorting_Hat said:

chippyhouse said:

JerryW said:

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

Did you find the guage?

if the tank is aboveground it will be under the hinged cover on top.
If it is underground it will be under the hinged cover as well.

I did, it was right infront of me I just didn't look under the little lid! we've got 30% left so I'd like to get it topped up soonish.

In response to another point raise about not running out of gas completely being unadvisable, we definitely don't plan to, but the previous occupiers did (rather often by the sounds of it). Can some explain, what it does to your boiler/why it's so bad? For some more context the boiler here keeps turning off - landlord is try to say its 'overheating' but I'm certain that's incorrect, its too frequent and the boiler is new-ish. 

I would have thought running out of gas wouldn't really effect your boiler. It's just the same as turning off the outside stop tap. When you do refill you may have a problem with air in the pipework but this should clear as the pressurised gas runs through to to boiler. People on bottled gas let the bottle empty before replacing it with a full one often.

Andrew1066

y-o-r-k-y said:

chippyhouse said:

Sorting_Hat said:

chippyhouse said:

JerryW said:

chippyhouse said:

I've just moved into a home with an LPG tank (West Oxfordshire) and have been quoted 69ppl from Flogas (current supplier) we are renting but can negotiate a new contract. From reading on these forums that seems like a high price, Im not sure how much gas we will use however. Its a 5 bed house and we like the heating on a lot... can anyone advise what would be a good rate/how much we are likely to use?

Do negotiate a new contract, even if it is with Flogas. A look through the last few pages of posts will give you some leads, and some things to watch out for. Either take a contract for 2 years fixed, or at least look carefully at what will happen in year 2 if the fix is for 12 months. I quite like the sound of the Birmingham based independent mentioned a few posts back, but have had no dealings with them. You should be looking to get below 50p/l if you can. LPG Save will give a representative quote, if you can beat them you will do well. Don't be afraid to haggle.. eg get the best quote you can and tell Flogas you will stay with them if they can match it.

How big is the tank? I hope it is compliant; if not switching supplier might be tricky, since neither the tank or the house belong to you. Don't give notice to Flogas if you do switch, until another supplier has confirmed it is willing to fill the tank!

How much gas you will use is a very variable thing. Depends on your preferred temperature, average ambient temperatures, other uses for the gas eg gas fires, cooking etc (though cooking doesn't use much compared to heating. I would start at 3,000l pa. If that turns out to be a bit high, so be it. As long as you make an honest guess..

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Thanks so much, reached out to LPG Save who gave us a quote (still with FloGas) but for 55ppl... so getting it down! 

I've asked our landlord for details on the tank... right now I can even find the gauge to see how full it is. They do seem like they had a very relaxed attitude to Gas -"if we run out, we run out" which isn't going to fly with us!! I assume if the Flogas fill up the tank now, they still will if I renew the contract? I'll try to work out if its compliant, the house is from 2000 and just in the garden underground, there's no electrics etc that I can see near it, so fingers crossed it's all good. 

Thanks again!

Did you find the guage?

if the tank is aboveground it will be under the hinged cover on top.
If it is underground it will be under the hinged cover as well.

I did, it was right infront of me I just didn't look under the little lid! we've got 30% left so I'd like to get it topped up soonish.

In response to another point raise about not running out of gas completely being unadvisable, we definitely don't plan to, but the previous occupiers did (rather often by the sounds of it). Can some explain, what it does to your boiler/why it's so bad? For some more context the boiler here keeps turning off - landlord is try to say its 'overheating' but I'm certain that's incorrect, its too frequent and the boiler is new-ish. 

I would have thought running out of gas wouldn't really affect your boiler. It's just the same as turning off the outside stop tap. When you do refill you may have a problem with air in the pipework but this should clear as the pressurised gas runs through to to boiler. People on bottled gas let the bottle empty before replacing it with a full one often.

If the boiler is overheating that’s a boiler problem ie for example the pump is not pushing water through the heat exchanger correctly, so it overheats. Thats needs looking into.