How much are you paying for LP (propane) gas??

[PrincessKitty1]

We were just charged 4.45 a gallon. I'm about to write out a check for over $800 for a tank of gas. This website says the average price of residential propane is currently only 2.44 per gallon:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp

It sounds like my gas company, Suburban Propane, is charging almost double the national average price. Any insight??

 

[ctinct]

Is Suburban in the NE or is it national? I am in CT and I was just charged WAY more than that. I need very little propane now, since I got rid of my gas water heater. I think they have a sliding scale based on usage. I too, was astounded by what average prices are listed at here. I called another company, who told me Suburban is well known for overcharging. I've had them for years, and always thought they were high, but never got off my duff to find out just how high. Lesson learned. From now on, I will call every other year or so to check. They will be losing my business.

I didn't actually think they would be delivering to me again, and I knew I had plenty of propane before I would have to switch companies. The reason I originally had intended to switch was they sent out a form because they wanted me to authorize automatic debit from my checking account upon delivery. Uhhh....no. I was afraid they would deliver right after I had paid all my bills and the checking account would be low. I thought since i hadn't agreed to their terms, they were not going to deliver.

 

[Mickdeb]

We are locked in at $2.869, the price on 11/13/08 was 2.899. Sounds like you are being over charged for sure. Good luck.

 

[jennifer293]

We locked in this summer for $2.39 a gallon....glad I got it filled then. We only use one tank a year thank goodness!!!

 

[jgates]

We did a prepay at $2.20 per gallon, however, when I ordered the other day she indicated we would be charged the current price which is $2.05 per gallon. It is about 5 cents per gallon higher if you lease your tank - we own ours so its the lower price.

I think that price sounds a TAD BIT FISHY. Might be worth calling the other local companies and then if they are considerably less, call a local news station and ask them to do an investigative report.

Now if it were fuel oil vs. LP, that does run considerably higher around here. Is it possible they entered the price for that on the bill instead? Maybe make a quick phone call to them after you verify other local prices and ask if it is possible they entered the wrong product price on your billing. THEN have the news station do a investigation.

 

[halld6479]

I am in the mid west and called for gas last week was quoted $2.04 minus a five cent per gallon for COD. 2 weeks before I had called for price it was $2.15 so it had came down some. In the fall they had offered a locked in price at $4.20 I passed on that thank god. I ask when I called what if I had locked in at $4.20 last fall she stated "well that would have been your price for the 1000 gallons you normally order in the winter.

 

[4shinystars]

We are with Suburban Propane in upstate NY. We prepaid for 600 gallons this summer at a cost of 3.54 a gallon. At the time it was a good deal, not sure now with the prices dropping. I'm afraid to see what it would be if we bought now. The good thing is that it's paid for and done with, so no worries this winter. Also, when we prepay, it always seems to be a milder winter. I'm hoping that's true this year!
One thing to remember with prepaying or buying propane, is that the more you get/use, the cheaper it is per gallon. If we had gotten 1000 or more it went down 20 cents or more a gallon.

 

[pbharris4]

Ours just readjusted. We are on the budget plan. Some budget. It's locked in at $4.00..don't know the change amount. Our gas bill is around $460 a month.

 

[MrsToad]

We are in CT and left Suburban around April or May of this year for three reasons:

1) The price - we saw our price per gallon go to about what the OP noted and found another company in our area at something like $2.50. For the record, we do not heat with propane but need it for cooking, hot water, and our clothes dryer.

2) They sent us a letter that our personal and credit card information may have been compromised but wouldn't even consider offering us credit monitoring services. Instead, they just suggested we change our credit card number, which we had already done.

3) I called for service about a year ago on our hot water heater as I was seeing water on the floor; they sent a tech out who said it must just have been sweating from the pipes above. Two weeks later the tank totally let go and when I called, they couldn't send a tech out for 2 weeks because of vacations.

They will not get a recommendation from us.

 

[C.Ann]

Based on what others are saying, that sounds a bit fishy to me.. Call and get numerous quotes from other places (every single one that services your area) and then call Suburban back and ask for an explanation.. If they don't have a very good one, put a call in to your Attorney Generals office so they can be investigated for "gouging"...

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Thanks everybody--this is all quite an eye-opener for me! I wrote out the check but DH and I decided we're not mailing it in yet. One of us will call Suburban Propane next week, and go from there. I will definitely be call ing the Attorney General re: gouging if I don't get satisfaction from the company. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell from Googling, the Florida price-gouging statutes only apply during a state of emergency. I do think I need to try and go somewhere with this, though.

 

[tlh0726]

Not sure if was fuel oil or propane when my husband called asking questions last year. One explanation was that the larger companies price adjusted one time per month while the smaller companies did it on a weekly basis.

 

[java]

Whoa! I was complaining about paying $2.30 last week. (we have a huge tank though so I wonder if it is a volume thing? our tank is about 1000 gallons)

 

[stacy2197]

I heard on the news one of our local companies prebought their LP gas when prices were still high. Now there is nothing they can do but pass these prices on to their customers. If you think about it, no one expected prices to fall like they did.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

DH called around to different gas companies in town and compared prices today. Then he called Suburban Propane to find out why they were charging us so much. The person he talked to said they (Suburban Propane) have about 50 different price points, depending on how much LP gas you use, the size of your tank, the phase of the moon, and the color of your eyes (yup, I made those last two up ). They could not give him a good idea of why they were charging US so much, but....

they reduced the price of our gas by 2 dollars a gallon! So I would guess they're charging as much as they dare, then reducing the price based on complaints.

Our tank holds about 150 gallons, and we use LP gas for our hot water heater and our furnace. Once the cold weather is over, I'll check into the price of natural gas and see if we want to pay to have the natural gas line extended to our house. We're at the very end of a dead end road--our next door neighbor had the gas line extended to her house a few years ago so hopefully it won't cost that much to extend it another 100 feet to our house.

 

[C.Ann]

DH called around to different gas companies in town and compared prices today. Then he called Suburban Propane to find out why they were charging us so much. The person he talked to said they (Suburban Propane) have about 50 different price points, depending on how much LP gas you use, the size of your tank, the phase of the moon, and the color of your eyes (yup, I made those last two up ). They could not give him a good idea of why they were charging US so much, but....

they reduced the price of our gas by 2 dollars a gallon! So I would guess they're charging as much as they dare, then reducing the price based on complaints. .

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I'm so glad you complained and got the price reduced.. I would also still put in that call to the Attorney Generals Office so they will stop this practice of only reducing the amount if the customer complains.. No doubt there are some old folks out there that don't know any better and may have to go without food and/or medication because they aren't aware they can get the price reduced.. That makes me

 

[PrincessKitty1]

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I'm so glad you complained and got the price reduced.. I would also still put in that call to the Attorney Generals Office so they will stop this practice of only reducing the amount if the customer complains.. No doubt there are some old folks out there that don't know any better and may have to go without food and/or medication because they aren't aware they can get the price reduced.. That makes me

You're right, I should. Apparently that high price is the "sucker" price. It really irks me because it's not easy to switch gas companies--they know they've really "got you" because if you switch suppliers, you have to pay the price to have a new tank installed, tank deposit, etc. Plus both companies need 48 hour notice and what's the chance you could perfectly coordinate having one tank removed and a new company's tank installed and filled without having to spend a few days stuck without gas??

 

[Derckert82]

We have Suburban Propane in Afton, NY along with a number of other residents that I know of. When a group of us were talking about the rates a couples months ago, it was ridiculous! Most other places we charging 2 something for gas while Suburban was charging 4 something! When a few of the people I know inquired about it, they were told that those were the rates for them and if they didn't like it, they can shop somewhere else. Well, they did. When Suburban in Afton was told of the difference in cost, they snubbed the customers and basically told them that they would not change their prices just because a couple people wanted them to.

I think Suburban has some major issues about pricing for their propane. I have held off on filling my tanks because of the prices hoping that things will change. I know very few people who have Suburban anymore and that is bad for business for them considering a few years ago, most of the people I know had them for propane. I think they are pricing themselves out of business!

As for someone else's comment about gas purchases. It is true that gas companies as well as local gas sations and the such buy their gas at different prices than what you are seeing on the market today. It is called "futures speculation". They are betting on their purchase of gas and oil futures to be low compared to when they actually receive and sell the product. Therefore, those companies that made futures speculations early in 2008 made a killing on the purchases when summer rolled around and prices doubled or more! I don't feel sorry for them now that the pendulum is swinging the other way. The problem for us is that they are still charging more that what they should be. If you ask, they are saying it is to make up the difference for what they paid for it when it was high but you never hear why they charged sooo much when they bought it low.

Think about this for a moment....A barrel of oil cost about $140-160 over the summer months. Currently, it is (and has been for a couple months) about $45 average per barrel. So why were we paying $4+ per gallon of gas for our cars then and still paying $2+ now when it is over $100 a barrel cheaper than it was before?

Anyway, I will be switching to another gas company once my propane runs out this year. Suburban can kiss my backside because of their prices and that they are unwilling to budge from it. You are fortunate to have had some success in getting a price reduction, but you are a rare case from what I can tell.

 

[wall*e2008]

We were just charged 4.45 a gallon. I'm about to write out a check for over $800 for a tank of gas. This website says the average price of residential propane is currently only 2.44 per gallon:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp

It sounds like my gas company, Suburban Propane, is charging almost double the national average price. Any insight??

Who owns the tank? If you own it you pay way less and can use anybody you want to fill it. If they own the tank then only SP can fill it and they tack on money for the "rental" of the tank.

We own our tank and on our last fill we paid $1.75 or so.

 

[scrapquitler]

Two weeks ago we paid $3.05 in Vermont.