I am so proud of us for taking all of the steps over the past few years to reduce our use of independence on LP gas and electricity.
We remodeled with new windows, insulation, and yadda, yadda. Here's a photo grab collage from the blog I kept track of when remodeling. The little house had to have plastic over the windows, and doors. We also would get frost on the inside of the north door pictured in the before shot.
We added a high tech cabin wall heater and two years ago we added a mini split to reduce our cost of heating and cooling.
Viola! We did!
Indeed we did!
I got my fall LP fill of 29 gallons yesterday and the driver left the billing. I was billed 54.00 for the fuel. The next line stunned me. $318.69 was due on the account. Which included 54.00 for the current fill.
Gobsmacked! WHAT?
I called the local office. Guess what?
I only used 184 gallons of LP last year. According to the LP company, that is not enough fuel for them to rent me the tank for the year. [They just started rent charges a year ago]
Imagine...you are on a very fixed budget and you get a $300 fill AND a rental bill for a couple of hundred dollars...OUCH! OUCH!
Sooooo, to encourage me to use MORE LP or get a smaller tank, they up the rent to nearly $300 for the year. I blew a head gasket politely on the guy that answered the phone. Normally we are sent a letter in the summer giving us an opportunity to order an earlier LP delivery at a lower cost. Plus a letter regarding the policy of tank rental.
I said that it was rude and unprofessional of the company to spring a surprise like this without prior notification. He agreed.
Then he explained that IF I wanted to switch to a smaller tank like a 250 gallon tank, he'd reverse the charges and they would replace the 500 gallon tank. See, the excuse is, they need the larger tank somewhere else. [Insert snarky thoughts here. I drive by their place and they have 100's of large tanks in their yards...hmmmm].
I said so if I ask for a smaller tank how do you handle it now? I have 400+ gallons. Do you give me money back for all that LP and deliver a new tank?
Nope.
Come spring they will come out and swap out tanks. BUT, the tank has to be at 30% or less for them to safely do that.
SO. I have to use all that propane before May.
I'll have the last laugh. I agreed to the swap. Well. Sort of. He reversed the charges on the account [we will see].
I will call around to all the other hungry LP dealers and make my own deal for the spring.
The worst part of all of this? My husband helped the original owner of this LP company years ago. He helped repair vehicles, tanks, and whatnot. Hubby would call around to get competitive costs and report back to the owner what other companies charged.
We got huge discounts on our fills for all of that.
Times change, I get that.
But. Seriously? We worked so hard to make a more efficient home to use less energy and then get penalized for it. Huh?
So now I have to use the LP heater more this winter. Otherwise how will they pick up the tank if I only use less than half of the tank for a winter????
Rant over. But at least I've paid for all that LP already so I won't get billed again this year.
Happiness is a well insulated house for winter. Fingers crossed.