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Steuben Jerry
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Looking for info. I've been with Griffith Energy (now Superior) for a little over 10 years. They have always been on the higher end of the spectrum of price range, but service has been fine. The last couple of years they have been increasing to the point that I wonder if it qualifies as price gouging. Came home the other day and saw where they had filled my tank. Bill was $620!!! This is a new all time high for me, and I was just filled 6 weeks ago. I burn a lot of wood on the weekends so this was predominantly only Monday to Friday use. We also have a setback thermostat (Nest) in which I have it set to go down to 60 at night, and also during the day. It only goes to 68 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm and again from 4:30am to 6:00am. House is modern and tight. So it's certainly not usage, but per gallon cost. I'm being charged $3.45/gal and get a HAZMAT charge that adds another .06/gallon. Spot checking the NYSERDA propane pricing surveys from Central New York, it's averaging $2.75 currently. I called around and found a local provider that will give me an introductory price of $2.00/gal and says they are currently charging existing customers only $2.08/gal. And no HAZMAT fees. 

So, to the propane burners out there, what are y'all paying per gallon these days?

ps. last year I called and complained for the same reason and they credited me so much that it wiped out my bill for the latest charge and still had $40 credit left over.

Edited by Steuben Jerry
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I paid almost $5/ gallon here in Florida, but that was for delivery of a small amount to my RV campsite here. I was happy to pay that because it saved me from breaking camp and driving who knows where for the fill up.

I paid $2.49/gallon in January with no HazMat fees or fuel surcharges. I do not own my own tanks. This is from E&V Energy in the Central Finger Lakes.

I don't know what I paid per gallon for my February delivery- never received a bill with our not being home. I called and paid the small balance- heat is only set high enough to protect water from freezing.

I have in-laws that own a 1000 gallon tank and usually only buy in bulk from a propane co-op during the Summer. Their unit cost is usually about 1/2 of what I pay. It would probably worth your time to see if there is a co-op in your area.

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We had propane everything at our old house.  We used Suburban Propane and they would change price all the time.  Finally switched to a local company and it was much better.  Ended up digging out and replacing  Suburbans tank with my own because they would not sell it to me.  Most of the companies would offer a set price in the fall if you agreed to purchase 1000 gallons.     I have not followed propane prices since we sold that house. 

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3 hours ago, Bigfoot 327 said:

I paid almost $5/ gallon here in Florida, but that was for delivery of a small amount to my RV campsite here. I was happy to pay that because it saved me from breaking camp and driving who knows where for the fill up.

I paid $2.49/gallon in January with no HazMat fees or fuel surcharges. I do not own my own tanks. This is from E&V Energy in the Central Finger Lakes.

I don't know what I paid per gallon for my February delivery- never received a bill with our not being home. I called and paid the small balance- heat is only set high enough to protect water from freezing.

I have in-laws that own a 1000 gallon tank and usually only buy in bulk from a propane co-op during the Summer. Their unit cost is usually about 1/2 of what I pay. It would probably worth your time to see if there is a co-op in your area.

Thanks Bigfoot, going to look into that.

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Most propane Co price per gallon vary. Depends on how may appliances u have/gal used.  If you use propane only for HW, your going to pay more per gallon than if you use it for HW and heating. 

I own my own tank. (330 gal) .  I call around and get the lowest price as any Co can fill my tank. 

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I called the current provider yesterday and complained about the pricing being 75% higher than the competition. I kept it civil, but did insinuate that I consider it price gouging. The person on the phone suggested I speak to his supervisor after which he put me on hold to speak to him. After a minute or two, the person came back on the line and said the supervisor would call me back within minutes. 18 hours later, no callback. I called back and told him to take me off the auto-fill schedule. After dwelling on this a bit, I really do consider it gouging. My $620 bill would have been $350 with the local provider. Can you imagine pulling up to a gas pump and being charged $4.70 per gallon?

The more I think about it, I'm starting to get really ticked off (at myself too for putting up with it). 10 year customer, pay my bill as soon as it posts online - usually 2-3 days after a fill-up, and not even a callback?

I see the NYS Attorney General has a web page form to fill out if anyone thinks they are being price gouged by energy companies. Hmmm...

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After playing that game for a few years with different providers I bought a 1000 gallon tank and have paid over 1.40$ a gallon since. It takes me a little while calling around and saying company X offered this price and then they’ll beat it and back and forth until no one beats it and that’s why I buy from.


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Do you get a Price per Gallon contract at the beginning of the season? Most propane companies offer this at the beginning of each season and it locks you into a price per gallon for the season. They determine the PPG on the price at the time in the fall say $3.00 per gallon just to use a round number. Then the propane company locks in about 75% of the those customers contracts by purchasing however many gallons of propane (say 500,000 gallons) at the $3.00 per gallon price. The other 25% they play the market with on a daily basis. If the market goes down they are making more money on that last 25% and if it goes up they are losing. The market has been steadily increasing over the last month so it is possible you are getting charged more while the company is trying to hedge their losses on propane that was promised at a lower price. Hopefully I explained that correctly. I don't burn propane but if I did I would do one of two things. First I would own my own tanks regardless. At the beginning of the season I would call around and get the best price I could and lock in at that price for the year knowing if the market went down I would be paying too much but I would be under contract. Or I would use a bunch of different companies (which companies hate) and I would call for the best price possible whenever I needed a delivery. Problem with the second is you will not be a priority if you are not a regular customer. The propane market just like all fossil fuels get traded at different prices daily....sometimes twice a day if there are big swings in the market. 

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15 hours ago, Otto said:

We had propane everything at our old house.  We used Suburban Propane and they would change price all the time.  Finally switched to a local company and it was much better.  Ended up digging out and replacing  Suburbans tank with my own because they would not sell it to me.  Most of the companies would offer a set price in the fall if you agreed to purchase 1000 gallons.     I have not followed propane prices since we sold that house. 

i would not recommend Suburban propane out this way. The local office staff was respectable despite giving a hard time due to policies to milk a situation for every cent it's worth.  I found their local office manager I was at least able to work with but dealing with them as a company was a huge pain in the a$$. At the old house i had a standby whole house generator fed with their (2) 100gal propane tanks. Logically I wasn't using much propane, so they constantly changed stuff to charge me just to charge me with actually providing any product or service. first tank rental went up claiming overhead and maintenance of tanks. I could agree with that being reasonable despite they're never just coming around unless for a fill.  then later on claimed they're were changing cost per gallon of propane as i wasn't using enough but didn't tell me until after they sent the bill for $13+/gal.  I asked about coming and getting the tanks and cancelling the account. Said their was going to be a fee and re-stocking fee per gallon of propane left in the tanks (that were obviously now full and that was basically the market price per gal of the propane). Then even after all that, they started complaining again i wasn't using enough propane so they said I was going to be charged a minimum propane cost of something around $140 each year from the start. i told them i was going to write a letter about what they were doing to the attorney general and county district attorney's offices. then it seemed like they put those plans on hold. i finally moved so i used that part of their policy to have them top off the tanks, lock them, and then give me a check for the balance of propane that was in them prior to top off.  i told the new owners they should buy tanks out right and shop around for propane fills, which would pay back the tanks in no time.

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21 hours ago, Steuben Jerry said:

I've been with Griffith Energy (now Superior)

 

21 hours ago, Steuben Jerry said:

I'm being charged $3.45/gal and get a HAZMAT charge that adds another .06/gallon.

I dropped Griffith a few years ago because of that reason. After checking around I found that the so called "hazmat" fee is no more than a delivery charge. I just paid my propane bill this week at the office and inquired about the current market price and was told it is currently $2.399 so at minimum they are over charging you $1.05 per gallon.

 I am currently paying under $2.00 a gallon. There are better deals out there so it pays to shop around.

If and when you change... Griffith will also charge a fee for picking up  the tank and removing any propane inside that they will compensate you for at a reduced price.  I put a lock on the tank so they couldn't deliver any more, used almost all the fuel, and when it got low, had my current supplier come in and install their tank and fill us up.

As a rule the best time to get a decent price is late spring or early summer. Get locked into a price for the upcoming season. Some have a pre-buy plan at a reduced price and there are other options available.

 Our current supplier is owned by Noco and they have been pretty easy do deal with for the last 3 or 4 years we have had them.

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My old place I used gas for HW only.  After getting the   " I'm not using enough, so we're going to hit you with a tank rental fee", I told them there tank was unhooked and they can come get it. They then said there would be a fee for them to come get there tank.  I laughed at them.  If you want your tank, come get it.  But I'm definitely not paying you to come get it, and I'm charging you $10 for storage each day your tank sits on my property.  

They were there the next day for there tank. I never got a bill for retrieving their tank.  

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Have you checked with Countryside Propane right there in Campbell, Jerry  ??...

I don't use propane anymore, except for  BBQ and my Little Buddy,  but I know one the the co-owners there,Dan Loucks and he is a stand up guy   and a close friend of mine... Wouldn't hurt to give them a call..I know a lot of local people have left Suburban and gone to Countryside..  

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23 hours ago, Steuben Jerry said:

Looking for info. I've been with Griffith Energy (now Superior) for a little over 10 years. They have always been on the higher end of the spectrum of price range, but service has been fine. The last couple of years they have been increasing to the point that I wonder if it qualifies as price gouging. Came home the other day and saw where they had filled my tank. Bill was $620!!! This is a new all time high for me, and I was just filled 6 weeks ago. I burn a lot of wood on the weekends so this was predominantly only Monday to Friday use. We also have a setback thermostat (Nest) in which I have it set to go down to 60 at night, and also during the day. It only goes to 68 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm and again from 4:30am to 6:00am. House is modern and tight. So it's certainly not usage, but per gallon cost. I'm being charged $3.45/gal and get a HAZMAT charge that adds another .06/gallon. Spot checking the NYSERDA propane pricing surveys from Central New York, it's averaging $2.75 currently. I called around and found a local provider that will give me an introductory price of $2.00/gal and says they are currently charging existing customers only $2.08/gal. And no HAZMAT fees. 

So, to the propane burners out there, what are y'all paying per gallon these days?

ps. last year I called and complained for the same reason and they credited me so much that it wiped out my bill for the latest charge and still had $40 credit left over.

OMG they just filled up my 100 gal tank. What should I expect the bill to be? Here on the Island my ex pays $3.89/gal for oil. I pay cash for my rentals and have been getting it for $2.19/gal. Crazy business!

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We had Griffith/Superior for 9 years while we owned our first house. They were by far the cheapest. I price locked on contract and always got a good rate. When I was unfavorable, I beat them up the next year and recovered. Only had one issue when there was that propane shortage a while back and they couldn't get me propane for a few days. I let them have it and they sent out one of the small emergency trucks with the tiny tanks in the bed and floated me 50 gal to get me by until the normal truck could fill me up. Ended up getting the 50 gal for free.

I typically would speak with the branch manager. An email to corporate and CCd to the branch manager does wonders.

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6 hours ago, ApexerER said:

Do you get a Price per Gallon contract at the beginning of the season?

 

4 hours ago, Steve D said:

I dropped Griffith a few years ago because of that reason.

 

3 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Have you checked with Countryside Propane right there in Campbell, Jerry  ??...

I don't use propane anymore, except for  BBQ and my Little Buddy,  but I know one the the co-owners there,Dan Loucks and he is a stand up guy   and a close friend of mine... Wouldn't hurt to give them a call..I know a lot of local people have left Suburban and gone to Countryside..  

So, interesting circumstances today. Within about 30 minutes after posting here this morning, I was contacted by the current supplier who seemed very interested to make things right all the way around. Also mentioned locking in low price in May and matching or beating my lowest competing offer, all of which has been suggested here. Pygmy - that lowest offer that I mentioned was from Countryside.

I oversee purchasing at my job and have done that here and at a previous job for many years. That has taught me to give a long standing supplier a chance to make things right (and I appreciate when a customer of ours gives me the same chance, if I should I need it). If I can't work it out, I have Countryside to go to.

Seems like coincidental timing, but this forum is read by more than just the members. Thanks for the advice from everyone, it's been more than helpful. But I think I'll stop posting details about this until I have an outcome. I'll update when I do.

Great knowledge base on this forum - on a wide range of subject matter!! 

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The cheapest one I've found is TPS.  A fraction of other companies.  Pre buy is way to go, gruffith/burn well are biggest rip off around. Got a deal from them after complaining and next year was right back up in $$ had TPS for 3 years now and no problems and calls to let me know when to lock in at lowest price...

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