LPG below 60p

[rich r]

57.7p at Asda York this lunchtime. Less bothered that my current car isn't as efficient as my previous one now

The same ASDA as me!

Just filled up again there this lunchtime - still 57.7p for LPG, but petrol is now down to 110.7

[scottyf]

its closing that gap isn't it... There's not much difference for me (About 3-4p a mile difference) between petrol and the true cost of LPG...
Saying that I am sure the gap will widen again...

[Brian_H]

i'm not sure how far the lpg price can drop but it seems like it may have some way further to go if the predicted petrol price is true. Time will tell.

Either way its still making BP look greedy/stupid again, no wonder they find their sales of lpg declining.

[scottyf]

The branded LPG stations are horrendously expensive. Do the big companies set the price or does the supplier like autogas?
I'd use the texaco nearest me if it wasn't 13p more expensive.

If it was say 2p dearer I'd use it because of the convince of it (Being under a cover in the rain) and also the opening times are far more acceptable.

Maybe I'll send an email to them.

[Brian_H]

It's not a straightforward answer. I'll post the reply I got from bp later

[kbs]

Finally got an answer from CountryWide.

The sales lady told me CW cannot supply below 61.2 inc vat in my area and they are aware that Asda/Morrisons/Shell sell below that price.
She did say that I may like to ask again in a few months. Perhaps that means that CW expect the High Street prices to rise or (less likely) CW prices to fall.

I won't be closing the CW account just yet but the thought of using a slow uncovered pump and paying more for the 'privalage' seems daft.

It certainly doesn't seem worth anyone opeining a new CW account at the moment.

A few months ago there was a thread where one CW customer was paying a lot more than other customers - I'm now worried that CW are simply trying to get as high a price as they can rather than trying to gain/retain clients. I guess the writing is on the wall for CW.

Kbs

[scottyf]

It does seem a shame that LPG has such price discrepancies. Those that are on the ball get more custom. Those that do not fall behind.
I find the cheaper ones tend to be independants but they have pap opening times 9am-7pm. Which the bigger players like Shell / BP / Supermarkets all seem to have much higher inflated prices but open far later.

Its a right minefield. Least I have choice while others do not it seems

[Brian_H]

The email from bp is as follows
"As a retailer we have to review the goods and services we provide at our sites on a regular basis to make sure they are competitive and financially cost effective. LPG sales have continued to decline over the long term as manufacturers have stopped supplying LPG cars and the number of LPG cars reduces over time. As such we are taking an approach of removing LPG on a site by site basis from our company operated sites when it would no longer be financially viable to continue.
BP operates about 300 forecourts in the UK, of which less than 90 still have LPG. A further 900 BP branded forecourts in the UK are operated by third party operators (‘dealers’) who independently still have the option to include LPG pumps at their sites. "


Doesn't really answer the original question i asked of them (if they have an overall plan). As mentioned previously i tend to find they are the more expensive sources anyway where they are supplied by BP rather than Flogas.

Shell i tend to find is cheaper than bp, though not as cheap as the depots. But i can only use depots when i'm in their area as there isn't any here. The local shell stations are 62.9 (both of them) the two closest bp are 69.9 (next closest is Toddington services (also BP) - this is flogas though and currently 64.9 or 5p cheaper than the local bp!)

[mondeoman]

my local station is BP and currently 82.9ppl. Needless to say it hasn't seen my custom for some time. It really pisses me off that while the wholesale price of LPG has fallen by almost 50% in the last 15 months their retail price continues to go up and up and up. I do wonder that the FloGas depots in Leicester and Coventry have not dropped their prices more than they have, in fact Coventry has gone up 3ppl recently.

I try to make a point of being in or near the Total Station in Whetstone now, which is reasonable at 52.9 though in truth the savings available in Birmingham would about make it worth driving there!

We faced an issue earlier in the year, a local supplier closed, the BP station increased it's prices, as did another at Nuneaton and the Shell at Appleby withdrew LPG whilst forecourt works were underway meaining we could not buy at a decent price other than in Leicester (30 miles round trip) or Coventry (50 miles).

We very nearly got a community initiative going. We got 17 people together who were willing to make an upfront payment to cover our share of the costs and we would have had a pump in the next village, retailing on a par with the local flo gas depot, credit or account card sales only with a chip and pin device and an 8% discount (5ppl) discount for the people who funded it. Sadly, at the point of stumping up a number of the willing funders became less willing and the deal fell through.

It continues to amaze me how much the motor industry continues to invest in Hydrogen fuel systems. VAG apparently invested 1 billion pounds last year in development for a fuel that will never be mainstream (the world cannot afford the cost of implementing a filling network, estimated at several trillion dollars worldwide), all in a bid to appear to be trying to cut emissions, when a tried and proven system is already available, at least until electric cars become truly viable, which will not be anytime soon.

[scottyf]

This is why being a minority sucks

[LPGC]

Indeed noticed there are companies that do your own home pump. But given the above any financial gain is greatly outweighed by the cost of pump.

I looked into this years ago mate...

Have heard some people rip off piped gas suppliers by spinning the gas meter around and turning it back just before the meter man comes, so they get lower gas bills for central heating / cooking etc.

A pump connected to a spun meter could provide free car fuel as the pump could be powered by CNG too (CNG generator with motor driven pump or CNG engine with direct drive to pump). Free home electric could also be had using the generator!

All highly illegal...



The pumps I looked at were massive and cost about £8k, not looked for years, anyone seen anything smaller / cheaper?

Simon

[scottyf]

Seem to got for a couple of grand now. Clewrly its not taken off.
I didnt mean illegally. Just the convince of doing it. But then again I still guess you are at the mercy of your gas supplier.

[Gilbertd]

I think when it's been mentioned before and people have looked into the costs, they've found that by the time they've bought the gas and then added on the road fuel duty, it's worked out more expensive than using a filling station. It's probably worthwhile if you live miles from the nearest filling station, especially if you don't have mains gas and can use a vapour take off to run your heating too.

[Gilbertd]

LPG under 60p? Still expensive. Nipped over to the Dutch/German border yesterday and had to fill up a couple of times over there. In Holland it felt just like the UK, same filler and same price, 65.9 except that is 65.9 Euro cents so at today's exchange rate, 51.5p per litre. However, I couldn't believe it when I saw the price in Belgium, how does 41.3 Euro cents a litre sound? That's 32.3 p per litre, half of what we are considering to be good here.

Still can't think of any other good reasons to move to Belgium though.......

[rich r]

As always though, the problem of comparing fuel prices with those in other countries is that the other costs associated with running a car are also different. So yes, it'd be great if you could tax it in one country, insure it in another, put fuel in from a third and service it in a fourth - but in reality that's not generally practical for most people.

A friend of mine was a vociferous moaner about the amount we pay for petrol in the UK, and the cost of car tax. Then he moved to Australia and took it all back when he found how much it costs in terms of registration and taxes to be able to drive a cheap second hand, small engined car. Gone were his dreams of cruising the outback in a big 4x4. But petrol's fairly cheap there

[Gilbertd]

Talking to the Dutchman I went to see, they have to pay well over a grand a year in road tax, the most expensive in Europe. Apparently it's much cheaper in Belgium for tax as well as the fuel, but as he said, who wants to live in Belgium?

[scottyf]

Down to 46p. Might make low 40s at this rate.
However I swear I never get as good mpg readings from here. I think there machine isn't quite right.

Still even the extra litres I put in still far cheaper than the next cheapest place.

[Gilbertd]

As always though, the problem of comparing fuel prices with those in other countries is that the other costs associated with running a car are also different.

Not really, I do more miles on the Continent than I do here (in the last year, only 9,000 of the 22,000 I did was in the UK), so the price of fuel in different countries is important. As the car is UK registered, my road tax and insurance is paid at UK rates. Using yesterday's findings as an example, I wouldn't bother filling up in France but would wait until I'd crossed the border into Belgium and would then fill up there again before crossing into Holland.

[Brian_H]

Down to 39.9 at pershore rd by what's been updated today .

[scottyf]

I heard the one on pershore road is doing it on purpose to show they use up loads of gas. As they are looking to sell it very soon. Inflating the figures to help sell the business.

So I hear....