Calor Gas Fill

barry181091

We have a large Calor (I think) tank out the back of our rented accommodation. When we want to order gas, we have to go through the landlord and they sort everything out. We have just ordered 1200 liters and it has come to 1250 euro according to the landlord.

I have only ever experienced oil or natural gas before but this seems to be crazy money. Its over 1 euro per liter! Does this sound right?

John.G

That's €1.04/Litre or €0.147/kwh. kerosene just now is around €0.74/litre or €0.073/kwh so your quoted LPG cost is over twice the cost of Kerosene, the last SEAI comparison cost that I can locate is for July and LPG was ~ €0.81/litre or €0.115/kwh which I would have thought would be nearer the mark as Kerosene was €0.81/litre or €0.079/kwh....LPG being 46% dearer, traditionally LPG is normally ~ 50% more expensive than kerosene (or N.gas) so if my sums are correct then there might appear to be a price mark up there somewhere. Why don't you ring Calor and ask them what is the delivered cost of 1200 litres of LPG.

Wearb

I think those gas companies have a graduated price scale that's dependant on annual usage. There might be additional charges also.

It's some time ago since I looked at it in detail, but then there was a complicated pricing structure.

Scruff

Wearb wrote: »

I think those gas companies have a graduated price scale that's dependant on annual usage. There might be additional charges also.

It's some time ago since I looked at it in detail, but then there was a complicated pricing structure.

Yup.

Last LPG order i got a few weeks ago from Flogas worked out about €0.98/L.
Bulk LPG pricing is completely opaque from a consumer point of view. The few suppliers there are dont publish their prices and as far as i can make out everyone's price is different even with the same company. You seemingly get a discount if you order loads but they wont tell you what that threshold is or what the discount is because they say its on an individual basis.
I've been with Calor and Flogas over the years and the SEAI comparisons price was always way below what I was paying.

There is also an annual "service charge" for the LPG tank itself so your landlord could have factored that into the price he gave you. You wont know for sure unless you can see the invoice itself.

So in short what you paid doesnt sound too outlandish for LPG.

John.G

I average (oil fired boiler) ~ 15,000 kwh/annum which would equate to 2115 litres/annum of LPG and I wouldn't be very pleased if, based on this, I was charged a euro per litre.

shane b

I'm with Calor Gas and the price is based on your usage over a 12 month period. Just checked my account and for usage of 800 -1600 litres per year the price per litre is 1.03 per litre.
So for a 1200 litre fill the price is pretty close.

barry181091

Thanks everyone. I am just astounded at how expensive the whole thing is!

Why would anyone in their right mind go with Calor/bulk tank gas vs oil!?

Obviously natural gas is overall better but it is out of reach of a lot of people.

phormium

I must get my gas tank filled now that I think of it for the winter but as you ask why anyone would have gas over oil then all I can say is my experience is that while it is more per unit cost I use less than I did when I had oil to get the same result.

Now it is a long time since I had oil but family member has it and they would use on average over the year a similar amount of money to heat their house as I do with gas, our houses are similar in size and of same vintage, mine would actually be slightly bigger as attic is converted, I also have a gas hob. Be interesting now to see how you fare with that amount and how long it lasts, mind you boilers differ too, I never have to turn the dial on mine past 1 to get roasting water or radiators, my father who also has gas has to keep his around 2.5 to get same so obviously uses more fuel.

barry181091

phormium wrote: »

I must get my gas tank filled now that I think of it for the winter but as you ask why anyone would have gas over oil then all I can say is my experience is that while it is more per unit cost I use less than I did when I had oil to get the same result.

Now it is a long time since I had oil but family member has it and they would use on average over the year a similar amount of money to heat their house as I do with gas, our houses are similar in size and of same vintage, mine would actually be slightly bigger as attic is converted, I also have a gas hob. Be interesting now to see how you fare with that amount and how long it lasts, mind you boilers differ too, I never have to turn the dial on mine past 1 to get roasting water or radiators, my father who also has gas has to keep his around 2.5 to get same so obviously uses more fuel.

You make a good point, it is difficult to compare.

What I would say to you is that could it be possible that you have a nice 89%+ efficiency condensing boiler and your friend has an old standard 70%- oil boiler? That would ratchet up how much you use!

We have a condensing boiler but apparently 1200 liters lasts the winter and thats it

John.G

This is all very interesting, it would appear that the SEAI are not giving really accurate
LPG costs whereas nat gas cosings are, and they are based on energy usage as well.
shane b above says that the (or at least his) price was €1.03/litre based on a usage of 800 to 1600 litres/annum. Is the different suppliers pricing so opaque that their prices can't be published in a similar fashion to the nat gas costings or electricity costs for that matter/?

phormium

Actually my friend has quite a new oil boiler, certainly replaced in last 5 yrs I would say. My gas boiler is 29 yrs old God Bless it and going strong so doubt it can be super efficient at this stage if it ever was! I have no intention of changing it until it gives up!

My annual bill for gas is around €1,300 I think (I have the records but not time to look them up) and included in that as I say is the hob. I have the heat on a timer for twice a day, hour in morning and from about 5.30 to 9ish most nights when cold, when very cold I also light a small sitting room fire, more for effect than anything else really as the room gets way too warm then but I like the look of it. Over Christmas/winter hols etc it would be on low all day and some weekends if I'm here all the time.

John.G

I can't imagine a modern condensing gas boiler being more efficient than ~ 5% than a modern condensing oil boiler due to the fact that it can modulate down to match the minimum heating demand in most cases. The oil boiler is continually cycling on/off as it fires at 100% output in all cases, I have seen efficiency loss calculations on this somewhere and I was quite surprised at how little this loss was/is.

I have calor gas and the gas boiler I have is about twenty years old..and NEVER been serviced...runs like clockwork...I presuming that it's alot cleaner than oil and that's why I've never needed a service...some one comes out about every 6 years and puts a lick of paint on the tank..I pay a fiver a year to calor to rent the tank..they wanted 150 a year at the time and I told them to get lost ..it's a fiver or nothing...that way They are responsible if anything goes wrong with it.ive never found calor the cheapest but I have haggled over the years and got a cheaper price.

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616890#Comment_118616890

A fiver! That's great value! They used to be somewhere just under €70 when I was with that, like that they wanted to increase it one year to 150 and I said not a hope and I would get rid of it, they left at the lower price then. I since switched to Flogas and I think that rental is 45 maybe, somewhere around that anyway.

Actually they told me at the time of the increase it was to cover painting/maintenance of the tank, I did not have my tank painted until it was over 20 yrs old so if it was going to be another 20 before next one it would a damn dear paint job!

shane b

I have recently switched to flogas after being with Calor for 10 years. I signed up for a 2 year term and my fixed price stands for the 2 years whereas with Calor the retention rate only stands for 12 months. Im saving about 15 cents a litre by switching to flogas.

The tank rental with Flogas is currently 105 euro, i was paying 78 euro with calor.

The only downside i notice is that calor have a much more developed "my account" section on the website. With Calor i was able to access past bills, any discounts available and usage band prices. Flogas dont seem to have the same detail available.

clonback

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118628378#Comment_118628378

I also switched a few years ago from Calor to Flogas on a 2 year fixed price but when the price of gas went up then my price went up.Like you I thought it would be fixed.Very misleading.