ᐅ House purchased. Termination of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) contract.
Created on: 27 Dec 2018 14:26
A
Alexius
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
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
Hello,
so with Primagas it’s a bit of a tricky situation—we had the exact same problem.
We bought our old house from my father, and he had a Primagas tank including a contract. After the purchase, we called them and were given two options: Option 1: transfer the contract to us—however, we were really bothered by the high prices and the fact that you can’t refuel anywhere else. Other suppliers simply won’t deliver if you can’t prove the tank belongs to you!
Option 2: cancel the contract, and they remove the tank for a fee—about 150 euros (around 160 USD) five years ago.
We decided to cancel and got our own tank. This way, we can refuel freely, which adds up to significant savings over the year. We had a 2700-liter (700-gallon) tank and ended up paying around 2000 euros (about 2150 USD) including delivery, a complete safety inspection (TÜV), and other related costs.
Think carefully about Primagas—they are very expensive. In our region, they charge nearly twice as much as independent suppliers.
Best regards,
Tina
so with Primagas it’s a bit of a tricky situation—we had the exact same problem.
We bought our old house from my father, and he had a Primagas tank including a contract. After the purchase, we called them and were given two options: Option 1: transfer the contract to us—however, we were really bothered by the high prices and the fact that you can’t refuel anywhere else. Other suppliers simply won’t deliver if you can’t prove the tank belongs to you!
Option 2: cancel the contract, and they remove the tank for a fee—about 150 euros (around 160 USD) five years ago.
We decided to cancel and got our own tank. This way, we can refuel freely, which adds up to significant savings over the year. We had a 2700-liter (700-gallon) tank and ended up paying around 2000 euros (about 2150 USD) including delivery, a complete safety inspection (TÜV), and other related costs.
Think carefully about Primagas—they are very expensive. In our region, they charge nearly twice as much as independent suppliers.
Best regards,
Tina
Caidori schrieb:
Hello,
so, with Primagas it’s a tricky situation; we had the exact same problem.
We bought our old house from my father, and he had a Primagas tank including a contract.
After the purchase, we called them and found out there were two options: Option 1: transfer the contract to us – but we were really bothered by the high prices and the fact that you can’t refuel anywhere else – all other suppliers won’t deliver to you unless you prove the tank belongs to you!
Option 2: cancel the contract and they remove the tank for a fee – about 150 euros (around 5 years ago).
We canceled and got our own tank, so we can refuel freely, which adds up to a lot of savings over the year. We had a 2700 liter (approximately 710 gallons) tank, and with delivery, a full inspection (TÜV) and everything, we paid around 2000 euros in total.
Think carefully about Primagas; they are extremely expensive. In our region, they charge almost twice as much as independent suppliers.
Best regards
Tina Thank you for the feedback, Tina,
I am also strongly leaning toward not staying with Primagas. It’s simply extortionate. Before I had done any research and when the representative basically knew this, he still tried to sell me this price as very reasonable.
I’ll call him on Wednesday to see what can be done. Just the fact that he tried to take advantage of me like that has pretty much destroyed any hope I had for a trustworthy future working relationship.
I wanted to give you all an update and at the same time ask a question:
After a long back and forth, we have now received an offer to purchase the tank later on (at the earliest after 2 years) if we are no longer satisfied with the terms. This will be regulated through a separate contract, which I already have. This was only possible due to a special situation.
I can live with this "emergency clause." I realize that it is still more expensive than purchasing our own tank, but it would be a good compromise for us.
My question is whether this separate contract could contain any pitfalls (in principle, I mean). It states that it applies as long as a supply contract (which we also have and is valid) remains in effect.
After a long back and forth, we have now received an offer to purchase the tank later on (at the earliest after 2 years) if we are no longer satisfied with the terms. This will be regulated through a separate contract, which I already have. This was only possible due to a special situation.
I can live with this "emergency clause." I realize that it is still more expensive than purchasing our own tank, but it would be a good compromise for us.
My question is whether this separate contract could contain any pitfalls (in principle, I mean). It states that it applies as long as a supply contract (which we also have and is valid) remains in effect.
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HilfeHilfe13 Jan 2019 09:56Only a lawyer can assess that. You would need to know the exact wording and establish a reference to the delivery contract.
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bluebox201919 Jun 2019 17:21I’m joining the discussion again, firstly because I have a similar situation, and secondly because something isn’t quite clear to me:
You mentioned that you took over the supply contract from the previous owner. Then you say that Primagas wants you to sign a new contract. That doesn’t quite add up. If the old contract was transferred, you shouldn’t need a new one—unless Primagas terminated the old contract. Or am I completely missing something?
How did the terms of the old contract (that of the previous owner) compare to the new conditions being offered to you?
You mentioned that you took over the supply contract from the previous owner. Then you say that Primagas wants you to sign a new contract. That doesn’t quite add up. If the old contract was transferred, you shouldn’t need a new one—unless Primagas terminated the old contract. Or am I completely missing something?
How did the terms of the old contract (that of the previous owner) compare to the new conditions being offered to you?
It's simple – we had to take over all the previous owners' contracts. However, since you have the right to cancel them within one month after the property is registered in the land register, both things I mentioned are valid. Primagas then offered us a new contract when I called, but it was very unfavorable. In the meantime, we have agreed on something acceptable and are reasonably satisfied with the solution.
The previous owners' conditions were also very poor, well (much) over 2 euros/m³.
The previous owners' conditions were also very poor, well (much) over 2 euros/m³.