Propane Price Gouging

[Up_In_Smoke]

We use propane for heat, and pre-buy every year.
In general, the prices are bearable.
Actually, we have to choice since the natural gas lines stop less than a mile up the road.
(but that's a rant for another day)

Last week, our delivery truck stopped by for the 2nd fill on our contract.
Apparently, we went 100 gallons over our contract amount.
Wouldn't know why. Maybe record setting cold?? (sarcasm)

This company charged us $5.60 per gallon for the overage.

They have never stuck it to us like this, ever.

Has anything similar happened to anybody else??

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yup, seems to be the common game played by them all. We have in floor radiant heat fired by propane. One bitter winter they did the exact same to us, over a barrel we had no choice but to pay. The best way out is to buy a 500-1000 gallon tank depending on your winter usages or potential usage, then buy propane from the cheapest company during their off season in summer. Get that tank filled cheap with no contract and store it for winter.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

We have seriously considered doing exactly that.

However, the property has changed since the tank was originally installed.
The truck would have to drive over my septic tank and lines to get to the tank.
Any damage would cost way more to fix than a surprise propane bill.

My thermostat has adjustable cycle rates.
I was running on the Medium setting, since that's what the manufacturer said to use in my case.

I have MacGiver'd a way to accurately track how much ON time the furnace is seeing.
My hope is to simply not use more than the contract amount.

This will also allow me to set the AC for the best operation.

 

[sandyut]

Sad, but I think most utilities are playing this game. Xcel charges more for "peak" times, but those are when everyone needs to be using it. Comcast charged us for "over use" when we had a guest for 2 month that ran up the internet use. NO clue about the Colorado natural gas, other than they charge more every year.

Seems like BS though. I mean the truck is there to fill you up, not sure how you needing a little more puts them out?

 

[ajbert]

Our furnace runs on propane, along with stove/oven and water heater. When we first bought our house I bought a wood burning stove and installed it. Every year, around October, I fire up the furnace to make sure it works. That is the only time I fire it up every year. I do cut down dead/dying tree every summer and let them lay until the following summer. I always make sure we have enough wood to last the winter.

We try to never fill the propane tank other than late summer/early fall. Most years it works, once in a while we have to fill it in the spring but will call to top it off in late summer/early fall. This has been working for us for 12 years now.

As has been mentioned, buy a tank and shop around for the best price. I've tried doing that but apparently no one near us actually sell tanks anymore.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

I'm too old to be screwing around with burning wood or pellets.

We burned wood for 20 years, but not now.

 

[ifitsdeadsmokeit]

They charge more because they can. Law of supply and demand. NG and LP prices historically rise during the winter months so they arent going to eat the extra cost. Not uncommon for the supplier cost to double just prior to and during the winter months. We can prebuy as much propane as we want during the end summer and fall. Unfortunately we have to fill the tank with it before a certain date or lose it. Every fall we would top it off with abt 600 gal and prebuy a whole tank. We just switched to high efficiency heat pumps with propane back up this past summer for the hvac. We have an 1000 gal tank that fill to 800 gals. Last week it was down to 500 left. It is saving us quite a bit yearly not including the extra cost of the units we had installed. Electric bill has stayed about the same when considering the price increase and surge pricing.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

We can't pre-buy more than we used the year before.
Which sucks.

 

[sandyut]

We can't pre-buy more than we used the year before.
Which sucks.

that does suck. a system set up to charge more when needed the most...huh. who woulda thought of that.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

that does suck. a system set up to charge more when needed the most...huh. who woulda thought of that.

It's not like The Man would ever try to screw any of it's customers.

(major sarcasm)

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Apparently, we went 100 gallons over our contract amount.
Wouldn't know why. Maybe record setting cold?? (sarcasm)

This company charged us $5.60 per gallon for the overage.

I'm not familiar with how you guys are set up, but my question is how do you know you went 100 gallons over? Is there a flow meter? Just have to take their word for it?

 

[sandyut]

It's not like The Man would ever try to screw any of it's customers.

(major sarcasm)

oh no of course not.

 

[ajbert]

I'm not familiar with how you guys are set up, but my question is how do you know you went 100 gallons over? Is there a flow meter? Just have to take their word for it?

There is a dial gauge that shows what percentage of gas is in the tank.

 

[Brokenhandle]

You're definitely getting screwed! I've bought propane recently for $1.49 / gallon. Every other year I contract propane for my hog buildings, timing wise I use more propane every other year. If I don't use it, then it stays on my account to use it when I need it.

Ryan

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I use oil for my heating and hot water. I did the pre-buy once. I'll never do that again. For one, I bought at a price that I thought was decent, only to have the price drop considerably a few months later. They set up a monthly payment plan to pull the amount out my account for 10 months. The final payment was supposed to be slightly higher for the cents that they didn't break down. It spelled that out in the contract, so I didn't think anything about it when the 10 months was over. Well, they didn't pull the $0.34 out for the last payment, then tried to charge me the interest on the full amount. I argued with them that they were supposed to pull the full amount out, so I'm not paying the interest. I didn't hear anything from them for another month, then got another bill for the interest, plus interest on that interest. I called them to tell them they aren't getting the money because they were supposed to pull the full amount on the last payment, per contract, but they didn't. I told them to go ahead and pull the $0.34 out if they want, but I am not paying interest due to it being their fault that the bill wasn't paid fully. Another month goes by. They didn't pull the $0.34, sent me another bill for the interest, plus interest, with interest on top of that. They also said that if the amount isn't paid by a certain date, they'll send it to collections. And, they closed my account with them, I wouldn't be getting any more oil from them. I threatened to take them to court. I copied the contract, highlighted the part that said the final bill will include the extra cents, and said if they want to charge me the interest, I will see them in court. I never heard from them again. And, I still have the $0.34.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

snip... And, I still have the $0.34.

And as Geddy Lee once said:

"10 bucks is 10 bucks".

(we'll see who catches that one)

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

I may be getting screwed, but there is no easy way to switch tanks.
It is totally not worth damaging my septic lines, and there is no way for a truck to get to the tank without going over the line / leach bed.

If I could come up with a dolly of sorts, I could move the old tank (taking a different route) and then just have my new tank placed in a different location.

Off to search the InnerWebz...

 

[Brokenhandle]

I may be getting screwed, but there is no easy way to switch tanks.
It is totally not worth damaging my septic lines, and there is no way for a truck to get to the tank without going over the line / leach bed.

If I could come up with a dolly of sorts, I could move the old tank (taking a different route) and then just have my new tank placed in a different location.

Off to search the InnerWebz...

What is the distance from where the truck can safely back up without backing over septic septic system? Our propane trucks can reach quite a long ways with their hose.

Ryan

 

[JLinza]

Thats sucks.
Our supplier can see when we are getting low and will come top us off, accordingly. But we dont have any kind of usage contract or anything like that. We only pay for what we get. We also have a wood burner, so that helps. Hope you can get something figured out.

 

[SmokinEdge]

What is the distance from where the truck can safely back up without backing over septic septic system? Our propane trucks can reach quite a long ways with their hose.

Ryan

I think our delivery trucks have about 100’ of hose. They string out 60-70’ filling our tank no problem.