LPG (heating) prices....

[NDA]

I've just had a letter from Calor saying 'we need to adjust your tariff... the cost of LPG remains at a relatively high historic level... we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your custom.'

I thought the wholesale price of gas had reduced.

Is there a choice of supplier if you have a gas tank at home? Has anyone here ever switched?

[ianash]

If you have a Calor Gas owned gas tank, you are stuck with them. If you put your own tank in, the world's your oyster. The other big supplier of LPG is Shell's Flo Gas and I understand they are quite a bit cheaper.

I got a letter from the thieving bds as well. The small price reduction comes on 1st April, guess when my next delivery comes? 31st March - funny that.

[TrevorH]

Calor have offered us £100 to stay with them even though we have one of their tanks. I need to check the small print on this one if the others are cheaper.

[JCW]

NDA said:

I've just had a letter from Calor saying 'we need to adjust your tariff... the cost of LPG remains at a relatively high historic level... we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your custom.'

I thought the wholesale price of gas had reduced.

Is there a choice of supplier if you have a gas tank at home? Has anyone here ever switched?

Wholesale prices spike last month, jumping 63% over January's pricing and whilst the wholesale price has reduced its still higher than it was at the start of the winter but I doubt this was reflected in your bills over the same time frame.

In terms of having your own tank, its not an option as no supplier would be prepared to fill it not knowing the integrity and history of the tank, how its been maintained and who's completed the inspections and, if so did they comply with the Codes of Practice?

[blueyes]

FYI

The Competition Commission (CC) has concluded its investigation into the domestic bulk LPG market. Customers who are not in contract are able to switch supplier without having to change tanks. Comes into effect from 13th April 2009.

This SHOULD make the market more competitive.

See more here: http://www.lpg-solutions.co.uk/index.html

[ianash]

blueyes said:

FYI

The Competition Commission (CC) has concluded its investigation into the domestic bulk LPG market. Customers who are not in contract are able to switch supplier without having to change tanks. Comes into effect from 13th April 2009.

This SHOULD make the market more competitive.

See more here: http://www.lpg-solutions.co.uk/index.html

I took Calor's £100 last October for signing up for 18 months. I have put the LPG site you mentioned into my favourites, for future reference. Thank you for this important information of which I was totally unaware.

[blueyes]

ianash said:

blueyes said:

FYI

The Competition Commission (CC) has concluded its investigation into the domestic bulk LPG market. Customers who are not in contract are able to switch supplier without having to change tanks. Comes into effect from 13th April 2009.

This SHOULD make the market more competitive.

See more here: http://www.lpg-solutions.co.uk/index.html

I took Calor's £100 last October for signing up for 18 months. I have put the LPG site you mentioned into my favourites, for future reference. Thank you for this important information of which I was totally unaware.

If you sign up to the LPG site they'll remind you come renewal time and also should come back with some quotes.

[PhilCerbera]

I live in a village where about 100 houses are fed LPG from the same large tank located centrally. Our gardens are too small to host individual tanks without sticking it in the middle of our lawn (I've checked) so we have to continue with our current supplier who is completely fleecing us. Do we have any other options other than wind power?

[NDA]

Interesting stuff - thanks.

Particularly the part about the competition commission, I'll keep a look out for that.

At the moment you can ring around for oil and it seems a bit of a cartel on LPG - I realise the tanks have to be certified because of what they contain, however it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to come up with a better and more competitive system of gas supply.

[JCW]

There is no cartel in existence within the LPG market. The long term effects of the Competition Commission will be to reduce the number of suppliers, but that's what you get when bureaucrats meddle in things they don't understand, whereas if they'd listened to the industry then at the very least the status quo would have been maintained if not increased competition.

[NDA]

Why will the Competition Commission reduce the number of suppliers?

[JCW]

Because the Codes of Practice do not apply retrospectively to an existing installation, however, for a change of owner the incumbent supplier will be responsible for ensuring the installation complies prior to it being taken over by an alternative supplier. The smaller LPG suppliers do not have the expertise or manpower to update their existing tank population, therefore, it stands to reason that due to the increased costs they will be forced to either increase their gas prices to cover the shortfall or exit the market completely.

Over the last decade or so, the number of suppliers has reduced significantly as a result of takeovers mainly due to the cost burden of complying with the latest H&S/HSE regulations; a sound reason why there aren't any customer owned tanks.

[fivesixseven8]

Thought I'd revive this post rather than start a new one...

We've just had a contract renewal through from Calor. Prices for the new contract are: 39.9ppl and standing charge of 16.9ppd. This is a fair bit cheaper than the 43.9ppl we were paying so a good start.

I signed up to LPG Solutions months ago as mentioned above but have not had anything from them, nor is there a contact number to call.

Any advice on the best way to go about getting it as cheap as possible? Or how to haggle Calor down?

[fivesixseven8]

To add...

Just totalled up 2 years usage with Calor (38.9ppl but £100 incentive) and Flogas (35ppl no incentive) and it comes to £1968.37 vs £1870 respectively.

Going to play them off against each other and see if I can get any better.

Any other suppliers I should be trying?