Propane Gas Refill Costs (Richmond, Purcellville: credit check, how much, new home)

[Anna_M]

Knowledgeable and friendly city-dataers, please advise!! :-)

We have a propane gas tank (1,000 gallons) in the backyard. Never have had propane gas before, thus these burning questions: what are the best COST-SAVING strategies could you share?
Mainly, when to buy, and from whom to buy? (The previous owners bought the tank, so we own it now.)
We had to refill 200 gallons at the end of February, and the cost scared the bejeezes out of me - $650.

Also, is pre-pay program some companies offer worth it: will it save???

Thank you all who will answer!!

[victor20170]

Hello,

Our home uses propane. We currently have 2 X 120 gallon tanks, so we need about 200 gallons to fill them up (80%), every 4 weeks or so, during winter only thankfully.

We have gotten a bill for as much as what you mentioned above to fill up both tanks, but this only happened once when we ran out of propane. The company forgot the previous week to send the truck to our home.

In any case, we do not use the prepay program that our provider offers. However, we use their Level monthly payment plan program, which allows us to pay our bill monthly versus every time the propane truck comes in to fill up the tanks.

The monthly payment will be adjusted by the provider if the price per gallon goes up or down accordingly.

This is a note from their website:

This plan does not guarantee a locked monthly payment or price per gallon. It only creates a monthly payment program, which is applied to your actual account balance. Your monthly payment is subject to change, based on your actual usage and market fluctuations in the price of propane and LP gas.

It makes it easier to pay for the deliveries, and it costs nothing to have it activated, not even a credit check if I am not mistaken.

Regards,

Victor

[RamblingMan]

I hate to say it, but $3.25 per gallon sounds pretty reasonable to me. I have a large propane tank as well, but only use it to run a generator, so I rarely have to fill it. As far as I can tell, the only real cost saving strategy is to turn down your thermostat and maybe have an energy audit to see if adding more insulation or better windows and doors would save you money in the long run.

[South Jersey Styx]

Are you brand-new homeowners? If not, and the previous owners used propane, that company should be able to provide information on propane usage. For example, they can provide the last two years and how much was used each month and a total for the year.

I don't know anyone who uses propane except one family. And they live on Mount Weather (between Purcellville and Berryville).

[victor20170]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

I don't know anyone who uses propane except one family. And they live on Mount Weather (between Purcellville and Berryville).

The Richmond American Homes on Gum Spring Rd close to Evergreen Mills Rd use propane. According to the builder, Winsbury West will eventually get natural gas, but there's no timeline for that.

By the way, that area is considered Sterling 20166.