Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?

DAVID.T_3

HateLPG wrote: »

Another reason to get your orders in early!

Flogas Tanker overturned on M25 near Clackett Lane

This is not in anyway intended as a criticism, merely as an observation. Something went seriously wrong here (thankfully not catastrophically wrong). In the light of this I would fully expect all distributors to be reviewing when they consider it safe to send the tankers out and at what point it becomes a "no go"!

It's easy to criticise the suppliers for failing to make deliveries, letting tanks run down to fumes etc, and yes they do have a responsibility to ensure continuity of supply, but they also have an overriding resposibility to do this in such a way as to minimise the risks to their staff, customers and the general public. I don't know exactly how much one of these delivery tankers typically carries (maybe DavidT would know), but I was told a while back (by someone who knows about these things) that mixed in the right proportions with air, a full 1200 litre tank of LPG (that's one of the SMALL above-ground domestic tanks) sufficient explosive energy to make a "BANG" pretty much as big as that at the Buncefield Depot in December 2005. And believe me, that was a BIG bang - I'm a VERY heavy sleeper and that particular bang managed to wake ME up, even though I was about 10 miles away at the time!

Just something for all of us to bear in mind when deciding whether to place an order or are gnashing our teeth / freezing etc because the delivery hasn't made it through. I placed an order over a week ago, before this latest lot of cold weather and still waiting. Here's hoping it makes it through this week - but given my location, I guess that's not likely if the roads don't improve, and even less lilkely if we get hit by the next load of snow. At least it's safer to transport logs around in this weather

tankers hold either 8 or 12tonne, see bbc news, flogas have had one upside down yesterday !! At least driver unhurt.

mitchy74

Whats the ins and outs of the LPG supply company having to provide a continuos supply then other than them simply breaking their contract??

Struggling to get Flo to deliver despite calls last week and this, around the 5% level now previously up at 20% this time last week.

HateLPG

DAVID.T wrote: »

tankers hold either 8 or 12tonne, see bbc news, flogas have had one upside down yesterday !! At least driver unhurt.

Which would be, in round figures, 16,000 or 24,000 litres???

That would be one HECK of a big bang!!!!

Like you say, thankfully NO one hurt!!

HateLPG

Hi all!

Sadly, LPG didn't get a look in on today's "You and Yours" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wp55v#p00cw670). I got the distinct impression, having listened to it, that the Department for Energy (Charles Hendry, Chris Huhne et al) have no interest whatsoever in doing anything to stop prices rising, claiming it's "working properly as a competitive market". I guess this is for geopolitical reasons, since they want to do everything possible to reduce Carbon emmissions. Tim Yeo, Chariman of the Energy Select Committee, on the other hand, took a different view and was somewhat sceptical about the arguments put forward by Federation of Petroleum Suppliers in support of recent price rises and suggesting referral to teh OFT if they could not be fully justified. I would therefore suggest that rather than writing to the Department of Energy in respect of LPG supply issues, correspondence would more usefully be directed to Tim Yeo. That's the bad news.

But the good news is that my moles tell me that they smell a rat with LPG and are sniffing around, have already contacted certain other forum members, and are considering doing an item on LPG in it's own right

So, if you haven't already done so, please take time out to contact them with your concerns. Like all these consumer programmes, and indeed, like Martin's "Moneyfesto" (on which note, if you haven't already done so, please also take time out add your "thanks" to voisin's post requesting regulation of the LPG market, which can be found at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=39205254&postcount=477), the likelihood of getting a good response is in direct proportion to the size of the mailbag!

So get your thinking caps on, and contact "You and Yours" - even a simple one-liner will serve to add weight to the cause!

HateLPG wrote: »

The programme can be contacted by email at [EMAIL="youandyours@bbc.co.uk"]youandyours@bbc.co.uk[/EMAIL], or via the main BBC Switchboard (0845 519 1471) and asking for the "You and Yours" production office.

wind00

Hi All - I'm another newbie to the world of LPG. We recently moved into our new home with next to no LPG. We contacted BP (the old supplier), but we've not had a delivery despite being completely empty for over 2 weeks now. When I do get through to them they refuse to give any indication of when we will be filled, and now they don't even answer the phone or put you on hold - they just allow you to 'request a call-back' which I have not received.

We have young children, and rely on LPG for heating, cooking and hot water, so this situation in temperatures lower than -10C (we're in Scotland) is just ridiculous. The roads around our area are not a problem for travelling, and we have easy access to the main road network which is all clear.

Has anyone had any experience of making complaints to BP other than through the standard phone number ? I see a cold christmas ahead !

TIA.

LittleVermin

wind00 wrote: »

Hi All - I'm another newbie to the world of LPG. We recently moved into our new home with next to no LPG. We contacted BP (the old supplier), but we've not had a delivery despite being completely empty for over 2 weeks now. When I do get through to them they refuse to give any indication of when we will be filled, and now they don't even answer the phone or put you on hold - they just allow you to 'request a call-back' which I have not received.

We have young children, and rely on LPG for heating, cooking and hot water, so this situation in temperatures lower than -10C (we're in Scotland) is just ridiculous. The roads around our area are not a problem for travelling, and we have easy access to the main road network which is all clear.

Has anyone had any experience of making complaints to BP other than through the standard phone number ? I see a cold christmas ahead !

TIA.

Hi wind00,

Welcome to the forum - and the wonderful world of LPG.

I'm sorry that I can't answer your specific question but I hope others can.

Apologies if some/all of what follows is teaching g'ma to suck eggs.

I guess that as you have no contract you are near the bottom of the list of BP's priorities if they have resource as well as distribution problems in Scotland. The only way I see to get up the list is to email them to ask to discuss a contract for yourself. Mentioning of course that access to your property is easy, and that they own the tank already.

Switching suppliers should be completed in 28 days (see http://www.uklpg.org/supplier-search/ for your potential suppliers) according to the Competition Commission order - probably 28 days is optimistic at present! Outgoing and incoming suppliers are supposed to ensure continuity of supply according to Consumer Direct (http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/EnergySupplyandPost/energysupply/563247/LPG ) but I can't see that as counting for much at present.

Without a switch BP should be able to produce a contract very quickly (the 28 day switching time allows time for tank inspection and the sale to new supplier, if agreed).

Not a good tme to get a good contract, of course, but there is at least one good BP contract on this forum (which would have kept me as a BP customer if they'd offered it to me last May!). It's lpgrrrrr's contract in early September: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=36497371&postcount=206 .. and some posts before (especially about BP attempting to neutralise their maximum rise clause!). Of course the LPG situation was rather different then!

Best wishes - and I hope you manage to have a happy Christmas.

frankie

You and Yours

Had an e-mail back from You and Yours as follows:

Dear Frank

Thank you very much for your email. I would be very interested to find
out more about your experience. Pls could you give me a call on the
number below or let me know your number? I look forward to speaking to
you.
Best wishes,

Steven Williams
You & Yours
Tel 020 7765 4919

My own 'story is not that controversial, (I haggle hard with my supplier and on a 'reasonable' rate) so may I encourage other lpg users that have real horror stories to make use of this contact.

I don't want to water down the issues based on just my own experiences and feel that the issue should be backed up by more 'controversial' experiences.

wind00

Thanks LittleVermin - good information there. We did set up a contract almost straight away with BP. I worked on the assumption they'd be fastest to ensure supply (which you've confirmed, thanks), so the contract started 7/12, they marked us as empty on 8/12 and promised 7 day delivery but so far still nothing. Regular calls / e-mails is getting no response. Having now read this thread, I'll go home and double check the price we got against what other people have, and luckily I did ask about price rise during contract - it's something like no rise for 6 months, then max of 3.5ppl rise after that (from memory). Of course, at the moment it doesn't look like they are even going to delivery for 6 months, so the price is academic ! ;-)

LittleVermin

wind00 wrote: »

<snip> We did set up a contract almost straight away with BP. <snip>

I'm sorry - the whole basis of my post was wrong.

Last winter in the very cold spell BP was putting just a couple of hundred litres in tanks, rather than a complete fill - to eke out the supply. Your contract probably says they will never put in less than a tankful (i.e. 85%).

You might get somewhere by asking for a couple of hundred litres so at least you've heating, cooking and hot water from your LPG? - i.e. you are offering to temporarily ignore one clause in the contract they've just signed. (I realise the boot is normally on the other foot with this clause - which crept in over several years).

I would have thought BP would have bent over backwards to start your contract on a positive note.

HateLPG

wind00 wrote: »

Thanks LittleVermin - good information there. We did set up a contract almost straight away with BP. I worked on the assumption they'd be fastest to ensure supply (which you've confirmed, thanks), so the contract started 7/12, they marked us as empty on 8/12 and promised 7 day delivery but so far still nothing. Regular calls / e-mails is getting no response. Having now read this thread, I'll go home and double check the price we got against what other people have, and luckily I did ask about price rise during contract - it's something like no rise for 6 months, then max of 3.5ppl rise after that (from memory). Of course, at the moment it doesn't look like they are even going to delivery for 6 months, so the price is academic ! ;-)

From the BP website:

Release Date: 20 December 2010

The severe weather in many area’s I]sic[/I of the UK has impacted our ability to deliver to some of our customers, this has resulted in a backlog of orders requiring delivery.

We are doing everything we can to get deliveries to customers who need gas where it is safe to do so. The temporary relaxation of drivers hours has given us the ability to increase the number of shifts our drivers will work and this will help us reduce the backlog as quickly as possible.

We are experiencing a large number of calls to our Customer Service Teams, this may result in some delay in answering your call. We appreciate your patience during this time.

Should you wish to email us please 'click here'.
If you are ringing to order gas did you know you can do it online by 'clicking here'.

So I would be inclined to email them AND place ANOTHER online order using those links!

Or, for what it's worth, if you're REALLY getting nowhere, (as far as I can see) their head office is:

BP Gas, Power & Renewables
Building B
Chertsey Road
Sunbury upon Thames
Middlesex
TW16 7LN
Phone: +44 (0)1932 762 000
Fax: +44 (0)1932 762 999

Good Luck :-)