ᐅ House purchased. Termination of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) contract.

Created on: 27 Dec 2018 14:26

Hello dear forum members. We recently bought a house with all the associated contracts. Among them is a gas supply contract with the company Primagas. This includes a rental tank. The representative offered us a new contract with the following conditions:

approx. 15 euros/month meter rental
2.48 euros per cubic meter of liquefied gas (equivalent to 3.93 liters)

Since I found this quite expensive (monthly installments around 150–160 euros), I did some research. An independent supplier would deliver gas at a price of about 42 cents per liter, which corresponds to a price below 1.68 euros per cubic meter.

Now to my problem – unfortunately, I do not yet have the original contract from the previous owners (I hope to get it. It should be from 2008 and could therefore contain a clause that is invalid. This would mean that the collection of the gas tank could not be charged by the company – but this is uncertain).

The plan might be: try to get out of the contract – either by returning the old tank and meter and acquiring our own tank, or by trying to buy the 10-year-old rental tank (however, I have read several times that companies usually do not agree to this).

Are there people here who also use liquefied gas for heating or who have been in a similar situation? I would be grateful for tips and advice, as this needs to be settled fairly quickly.

Best regards

Alexius27 Dec 2018 15:35

kbt09 schrieb:
After a quick search, I found the following prices:

and also

So, important: aboveground or underground? House size?

Thank you. The tank is buried, so underground.

You would recover the additional costs after about 7–8 years. If you also have to pay for disposing of the old tank, it might take about a year longer. I’m also surprised that the contract I’m supposed to sign mentions a 1,200 kg (2,645 lb) container.

Oh, and the house size: roughly 190 sqm (2,045 sq ft) of living area.

Caspar202027 Dec 2018 18:34

Alexius schrieb:
I’m also surprised that the contract I’m supposed to sign mentions a 1200 kg container.

1.2 tons = 2340 liters (620 gallons) usable volume 670 2500 1250 LPG tank 2700 liters (713 gallons)

Alexius27 Dec 2018 18:54

Caspar2020 schrieb:
1.2 to = 2340l usable volume 670 2500 1250 Propane tank 2700 liters

Thank you very much – I had just figured that out but forgot to update it here. It seems that the line to the meter also belongs to Primagas, but I won’t know for sure until the employee returns from vacation. What I have definitely found out now is that 2.56 euros per centimeter is a rip-off. I calculated it based on the estimated consumption, which would mean additional costs of about 750 euros per year (minus maintenance and initial investment in an own tank).

Maybe someone here has followed the same path that I might now take.

Gartenfreund28 Dec 2018 07:22

#10

I also wouldn’t want to be tied to a company. When I read that you have to sign a maintenance contract for the heating system and thus commit to the company for many years, even if you constantly have problems with them, I would prefer to find someone to perform the maintenance as needed and then keep hiring them for maintenance until they become too expensive or annoying.

So I can very well understand your concern.

I’m not a lawyer, but since you don’t have a contract with the gas supplier, they should actually have to remove the tank at their own expense and also restore the garden accordingly. That would at least be my opinion. However, I would suggest checking with a consumer advice center, where they can provide more information on this.

One more thing. In your posts you sometimes write:

Euro/qm

or

Euro/cm

I understand that you probably mean Euro/m³ or Euro/cbm, so it would be better to write it like that.

Please don’t be upset by this comment. It’s simply easier to understand what is meant when the correct abbreviations are used.

tomtom7928 Dec 2018 07:36

#11

I can’t imagine that the contract becomes void simply because the house was sold. In this case, the gas supplier paid in advance and has provided a service that they expect to be paid for. Most likely, the only way out will be at a higher cost.

ypg28 Dec 2018 09:03

#12

Alexius schrieb:
We recently bought a house with all the contracts that come with it. Among these is a gas supply contract with the company Primagas. This also includes a rental tank.

When you buy a house with piped natural gas, you do not take over the supply contract. The previous owner cancels it, and the new owner has to arrange their own contract.
When you buy a house with an oil heating system, the oil supply usually transfers to the new owner’s possession.

And with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), it should also be your decision which supplier you use.
I find it surprising that the delivery price of €0.63 per liter (approximately 24 cents per US gallon) is higher than the indicated average (based on general online research). Are you possibly comparing gross prices to net prices somewhere?

What does the contract say about the rental tank?

If the monthly prepayment is €150 (about $165), it could be that the previous owners had a very high consumption. Consumption also depends on factors like the size of the house. In that context, €150–160 (€165–175) doesn’t seem unusually high. It’s more than for an older semi-detached or a new build, but still within a reasonable range.

I see now these figures refer to the new contract. What kind of contract is this? One with flexible terms? Those tend to be more expensive… or what consumption estimate did you use?
I would suggest getting a copy of the previous owners’ annual bill and comparing it carefully.

I just can’t imagine that the prices are comparatively much higher.

ᐅ House purchased. Termination of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) contract.

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