Propane Tank, rent or buy 500gal

[midlf]

We have three tanks. 2-500 gallon tanks for the house and a 250 for the shop. We own 1 500 gallon tank. The other 500 and the 250 are "lease" tanks from the co-op. The "lease" is covered by the annual contract. There is no separate lease charge, time based or usage based.

For the annual contract there are three choices:

1 -One is a budget billing plan with monthly payments of 1/10th of your last years gallons at this years rate. The rate for this heating season is 1.699/gallon. With this plan you commit that they are the only supplier.

2 - Prepay Plan where you buy a certain number of gallons and it is delivered as needed. Cost for this year is $1.599/gallon. Any additional needed before May 31st would be at current retail rate.

3 - Locked in plan where you lockin the price at $1.699 gallon for a specified gallon amount and prepay $0.10/gallon. Any additional before May 31 is at retail rate.

If we took plan 2 or 3 we could purchase propane from anyone and have it put in the tank we own.

The propane for the house does not have sales tax applied. Propane for the shop tank is charged sales tax.

Last year our total useage was 1415 gallons.

 

[schmism]

For the annual contract there are three choices:

thats what most of the places in our area are doing.... Kinda likea budget bill depending on when you sign up (what time of year you get filled)

 

[scott_vt]

My advice is check around and find a supplier that purchases their annual amount when the prices are lowest and then guarantees that price to you throughout the year.

dsb

Afternoon Gary,
I did what dsb recomended ! I bought my own tank, 330 gal that was half full for $400 and I am free to choose who my supplier is. I ended up going from $2.64 per gal to $1.94 per gal and I locked in that rate for the season. Im glad I made the switch, the old company was actively screwing us IMHO !

 

[gmason]

Here's what they replied to the BBB.
"Our policy on Will Call Customers, we have 3-5 business days to deliver propane. gary called in on 1-10-07 and requested only 200 gallons of gas. He was also told that if we came out after hours or before we were in the area there would be an off route fee. This is a standard fee throughout the industry for a Will Call customer. gary ran out of gas and called our after hours service on Saturday, January 13, 2007 to request a delivery. EnergyUnited records their phone calls. We had the calls pulled. gary was told about the after hours fee and asked it they could contest the charge if propane was brought out to them over the weekend. Customer refused to pay the fee so the delivery was not made over the weekend. EnergyUnited Propane sends out newsletters 3-4 times a year to give customers and update to new programs or changes. The Will Call Policy is communicated in the newsletters explaining the 3-5 business days and the off route/after hours fees. It is not the fault of EnergyUnited Propane if a Will Call customer lets their tank run out of propane."

 

[DANOCHEESE]

OK SO we never did here why you are mad at them. If you wanted a speciel delivery they quoted you a price. You declined. Now they are crooks.

Tell us more about your side.

 

[gmason]

we have our tank in the ground and the guage alway has moistour in it and most of the time you can't even see the numbers to tell what the level is at. Every time over the last 10yrs, after we called in for a re-filled propane, they showed up either the same afternoon or the very next day.
And, BTW, we have NEVER seen a news letter from that company

 

[DANOCHEESE]

AHH so they changed the rules of engagment and want to stick you with a charge. Usually a good company will say This time we will waive the charge for you but int he future we need to charge for off route delivery. or offer to put you on a keep full prgram. Then when it runs out you get wake up the on-call driver and have him come fill you up.

See what you city folks miss by having natural gas!!!

 

[mike43]

I want to BUY a tank. Where can I buy one and how much do they cost? Burial cost? Installation cost? Sizes??

 

[Jay4200]

I want to BUY a tank. Where can I buy one and how much do they cost? Burial cost? Installation cost? Sizes??

You buy tanks from propane companies. Call around.

I installed a high-performance propane boiler a couple of years ago in a multi-family. I bought a 500 gallon tank for $1600 installed. I called around to all of the propane suppliers, and most were closer to $2000, but a mom-n-pop outfit had the best price. The did the installation, but I found a leak at the outside regulator - bad enough I could smell it a few feet away. The company, however, played games with getting it straightened out - claimed no leak, and charged me $85 for a service call. I didn't pay and gave them the boot, then I had one of the big companies come in - their service guy inspected my whole system, quickly found and fixed the outside regulator leak (blew bubbles like a circus vendor), all for free. I started a commercial account with them and they've been taking care of fill-ups ever since. Privately owned tanks pay a considerably lower rate than those with rental tanks, and I save a little more having a commercial account. Last winter when the going residential rate was over $4.00, I was paying $2.79. It IS nice when you own the tank.

JayC

 

[NoTrespassing]

Propane just north of Watseka IL is less than 1$/gal. right now. An hour south of that and it's still about 40 cents higher at most places. I got stuck paying 1.699 a week ago. If I had my own tank I could have saved about 30 or 40 cents per gal. on the 250 gal. min. fill.

I've got a 500 gal. "rental" tank. The rent is free but I have to buy from them. I really want a 1000 gal. tank of my own but I haven't shopped for one yet. I think I could save about $200 per year with my own tank.