Decommissioning LPG

Jeremy111

We recently installed an air source heat pump, solar panels and batteries. We had previously used bulk lpg in an underground tank. 

The new system works ok although we are spending more than we did before. This may partly because we were not able to get approval for the export of our surplus power generated which was a surprise. More importantly we have discovered that moving away from LPG is not just as simple as not buying any more gas. 

We are left with a tank which is connected to nothing but still has some gas in it (about 20% full). If we pay to have it emptied (expensive in itself)  we still have to have the tank checked and serviced every year. The supply company has said this will get more and more expensive if we don’t carry on buying gas from them. 

Taking the tank out of the ground would be a major logistical problem. It is not easily accessible and would have to somehow be excavated out of our garden at great cost, and leaving an enormous hole. The supply company have said that all they will do is collect the tank (once removed from the ground) and the cost would be just under £1000. 

So the total cost, including getting it out of the ground, would likely be about £5k to £10k, maybe more. Which is scary. 

Has anyone experienced this problem? 

The simplest solution, to my mind, would be to empty the tank and leave it in the ground. I realise we’d have to buy the old tank as it belongs to the supply company. What if they say no? Does anyone know if they have an obligation to sell it to us? 

This us keeping me awake at night. I thought going for green energy would be easy but it’s turning into what seems like a very expensive mistake. 

MikeFl

I went through a similar (if simpler) exercise with Calor - my tank was removed in October 2023, and 17 months later I think I've finally closed my account with them, although nothing is certain in the bulk LPG world.

Firstly, what does your contract say about ending your contract? I'm assuming you contacted the supplier and they disconnected the tank from the supply pipe, as that is 'their' equipment (the contract should explain who owns what bits, but you generally only own the pipework after the supply pipe)?
For me, it was a 3-step process:
1) Supplier visits and looks at what needs doing
2) Supplier returns to isolate tank, and remove any unused (yet paid for) LPG
3) Supplier takes tank away.
Easier in my case as was above ground.

I would have thought the supplier would have removed the gas left in the tank - as you can't get to it any longer, it's surely a safety issue? I'd certainly not want gas just sitting there. 

Secondly, are you still in contract with the supplier? If not, and you effectively rent the tank from the supplier (it's their tank) then why do they have their equipment on your property, when there's no contract between the two of you?
Again, look carefully at your contact as it should say something about uplift responsibilities and costs.

Thirdly, I'd get your local MP involved, or at least appraise them of the situation. If you're on LPG then I guess a rural home, and a rural MP should be sensitive to the particular issues off-grid gas brings. Press them on the fact that consumers have no ombudsman to regulate suppliers, and play on the fact that you've done what the government want, in reducing carbon footprint, and have ended up with additional costs. This will only happen more as the switch from gas continues, so setting a precedent now, will help more constituents (voters) etc. Play the political card with them. Government target is 600,000 heat pump installations / year so it's in their interests to make this as simple as possible for home owners, and grief like yours isn't helping.

Good luck. 

Sorting_Hat

The CMA is very clear in that the uplift (tank removal) referred to in the 2009 order is of the type undertaken as part of the switching process from one LPG firm to another NOT because the homeowner has chosen not to use LPG anymore.