Just moved in ... LPG

A question about : Just moved in ... LPG

Hi

We recently moved in to our new home (to us) and it has LPG central heating and it's the first time I've not been on mains gas so have a couple of newbie questions

1. The previous owners had recently signed a new contact with Avanti Gas to supply LPG - am I tied to them also?

2. The little bit of research I'd done before buying the house suggested that oil was a better option, at least because I can shop round before each order. Would this be a good enough reason to move from LPG to Oil? Our LPG boiler has just been serviced and is only a few years old so isn't in need of replacement anytime soon.

We don't have a gas cooker and I have had the LPG fires removed ready for a multi fuel stove to be installed.

Our LPG tank is approx 40% full at present which at the rate we've been using it will last another 6 weeks or so (I'm not sure how much the tank holds) so I need to arrange something soon.

Sorry if these questions have been asked before, I couldn't find them in the search. Thanks for reading

Best answers:

• Hello,
  I found myself in a similar position to you about four years ago.
  In regards to your specific questions:
  1) Nope you are no bound by the previous owners contract. You are free to move to any supplier. Indeed you must shop around to get the best deal going as you'll be locked into it for 2 years.
  2) Yes an oil system is cheaper to run (though the installation costs are higher).
  Check out the NEP website for some indicative figures:
  https://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison
  Oil does have some other advantages too, for example:
  a) you are not tied into a contract and so the market is much more competitive - eg. you can call as many suppliers as you like and get the best price that day. You can join a local oil buying group too which works out cheaper.
  b) typically you can store more oil on site than LPG - which means if you have a big enough tank you can fill up over the summer months (when oil tends to be cheaper) and ride out higher prices in winter.
  To be fair there are cons too - eg:
  1) Oil can be stolen
  2) Oil can leak
  3) Oil boilers do need a service every year (though really any boiler should be serviced each year)
  4) You can't run a gas hob/fire off oil obviously
  After a couple of years with LPG we did switch to an oil system. The decision was easier for us though as the LPG boiler was very old and very inefficient and the LPG tank was way too small for the house so the switch made sense.
  My advice for you would be to:
  1) Read the LPG threads here to see what the going rate is for a 2-year contract and negotiate the best price you can with a supplier.
  2) Give LPG a go for those two years, figure out your usage etc and then work out what the best option is going forward. To rip out a newish boiler right now is unlikely to be economical even with the higher running cost.
  3) Remember to look at renewables too when considering a new system.
  Hope that helps! If you have any other specific questions just ask!
• Thanks for your detailed response. I will have a 'read up' and try and find a 2 year contract.
• I presume you have read the thread " Bulk LPG - Cheapest suppliers / supply route?"
• Also who owns the LPG tank?
  If its you you have much more flexibility than if it your supplier.
• Hi
  My supplier owns the tank.
  Does anyone have any rough idea how much it would cost to remove LPG and have oil installed (new tank and boiler I guess)? Is it worth it?
  We have always been on mains gas before so this is all new.
• Not sure if there will be any cost to remove the LPG tank. Our supplier (Flogas) uplifted it for free which I think it standard/mandated practice otherwise LPG companies could charge an insane amount to stop folks switching.
  As regards the install costs for oil there are a lot of variables to consider, for example:
  1) Size of the oil tank (these range from 500 litres upwards) and type (plastic single bund, plastic bunded, metal, etc).
  2) Do you have a suitable base for the oil tank already? We extended the base the LPG tank used to sit on but regs may mean you need to resite the oil tank as there are issues about closeness to the house/boundary which may not have applied when the LPG tank was installed.
  3) Size, make and type of the boiler
  4) Any related work that needs doing - eg. possible powerflush of the old system, etc
  5) Any related peripherals - eg. install of a tiger loop, magnaclean, oil gauge, etc.
  I can't quite remember our cost but think it was Ј3k ish for an external Grant boiler (28-36 kw), 2500 litre bunded tank, extension of concrete base for tank, new concrete base for the boiler, tiger loop, magnaclean, etc etc. Obviously the price will really vary based on the components, the complexity of the job itself and your location.
  As to whether it's worth it you'd have to run the figures based on the cost per kilowatt hour. There is a high upfront cost to install oil but your running costs will be lower. How long it will take for you to pay off the install costs with the lower running costs will really depend on your circumstances - eg. efficiency of your current boiler, the price you can get lpg for vs oil, etc etc. Given your boiler is new-ish it really may not be economical to rip it out - better to wait till it conks out and you need a new boiler anyway.
  Like you we'd never been off the mains gas network before and it is a learning curve but I really wouldn't rush into changing until you know how LPG works for you. But you must negotiate a fair LPG contract from the offset.
• If you are considering a new heating system off the gas grip, you best option is likely to be a renewable technology such as biomass or a heat pump. And with the RHI income you will recover your capital costs and benefit from cheaper fuel that fossil fuel alternatives
• Also if you have had an EPC when you bought the house you can put the figures in the link below to show you your rhi income, it can be very considerable
  https://www.gov.uk/renewable-heat-incentive-calculator
• Thank you for all your replies - I won't get to have a look at your rhi link until tomorrow but I will do it.