Propane Costs In Planned Developments ? (Newark: rental, insurance, condo)

[NJBoy3]

Can anyone relate cost of propane in planned developments. The kind of developments where everyone gets their propane from large tanks in the development (usually buried). Locked in long term contracts.

[Mary2014]

It will vary form development to development. I live in a condo community where it is metered to each unit in each condo building that has propane for heat. We have Sharp Energy as a provider and they give a discount over the average residential cost of propane in Delaware. If you know who is providing the propane for that community you can call the provider and ask if they offer a discount off the retail price of propane for that particular community.


I have propane for heat and hot water. I have a tankless hot water heater in a heated space. The cost for hot water is about $3 per month for a little less than 1.5 gallons of propane per month thru out the year. In my previous home I had a 50 gallon electric hot water heater in an unheated basement and it accounted for 30 per month of my electric bill. So, propane for hot water was a big savings compared to my previous home.


I also live in a first floor condo unit and it is much less costly to heat my 1200 sq ft unit than the unit above me that has vaulted ceilings. (Also much less expensive to run the air conditioning in the summer months.)


I have what is called a dual fuel heating system. (When I bought my condo I replaced the 15 year old propane unit with a duel fuel system). Above 40 degrees the heat pump handles the heating. When it drops below 40 degrees it automatically switches over to propane. I signed up for budget billing for the propane this past year and based upon my previous usage the budget billing was $44 per month for June 2018 thru May 2019. Ended up with a $23 credit at the end of the 12 month period.


When you take into consideration the additional electric cost for heat pump heating during the winter months, plus the propane cost for the year heating and hot water ended up costing me $660 for the year or about $55 per month.


There are so many variables to consider - even in the same community and even in the same condo building. Upstairs units are much more expensive to heat and cool due to the vaulted ceilings. Whether you have most of your windows facing east or west can impact the cost to heat or cool your unit. The type of water heater and if it is located in a heated or unheated space can make a difference.


There is a web site that gives you the average retail pricing of propane in DE per week during the heating season. I think it was in the range of $3.00 - $3.18 per gallon this past season. My propane provider monthly bill was in the $2.03 - $2.21 per gallon range.


Ask someone in the development you are considering about their cost per gallon during the heating system to compare the unit cost per gallon to the chart for the average retail price per gallon in DE for the same time period. That way you should be able to determine if the propane provider for that community is giving a discount to the community or not.


Remember your monthly cost for propane for your particular unit is going to be influenced by many factors and not just the cost per gallon.


Mary


PS: My cost to air condition my condo unit during the summer months adds an average of $15 - $20 per month to my electric bill from June - Sept. Unit owners with vaulted ceilings in the same building tell me their electric bill goes up and additional $100 or more during the summer season.

[Lizap]

I would never buy a house again that uses propane. We currently have a home that only uses propane for heat and hot water, and our propane bills are outrageously expensive.

[rothbear]

I live in a 55+ community that for the most part has propane to the homes. My husband, who is a geologist, insisted that we at least get an electric heat pump due to the volatility of propane costs. We already had an electric dryer and I wanted an electric induction stove, so we ended up with ONLY a propane water heater. Luckily we also had a line run for an electric water heater because I can't wait to go all electric.

We are 2 retired people so not a lot of laundry or dishes to wash. We use what I consider a minimal amount of hot water, but our propane bills run from $38 to $52 per month, which I consider absolutely ridiculous. Apparently this includes a $5 meter rental fee as well as a $5 meter reading fee. The higher usually when our DD and SIL visits. During the winter our total electric bill, which includes heat, is usually 1/3 to 1/2 less than just the propane bill alone of those who heat with it.

One last comment, our propane is provided by a company that is owned by the builder so we are pretty much being held hostage by it as natural gas is not allowed in here. But overall we find that propane is more expensive than electricity in this area.

[udelslayer]

The propane industry price is not regulated, so they can charge what they wish. NEVER buy propane from Suburban. They will play lock in games and I've had several situations where they've tried to make me pay more than $7/gal when regional averages are less than $3. Lots of people hate them. Maybe even more than Comcast. Schagrin seems to be an OK company for now.

I would definitely only consider it for heat as a supplemental/emergency system. I currently have LP Hot water and the costs averages out to around 40/mo. Its relatively the same price as an electric heater but that is because its a traditional unit that keeps a tank of water hot. I dont know what the performance on an instant-on system would be with LP. I'd put in an electric HWH if it were my property and no NG source. I'd consider a LP generator as a possibility if all electric, but outages are rare. Induction is the way to go if you don't want a gas stove. LP for gas stoves contains a bit of water and will result in valves rusting which can lead to a stove leak. Gas dryers scare me.

I thought it was very odd that certain communities all had 100lb LP tanks attached to their houses when there is NG regularly available around here (Newark). I'm not sure how home builders can dictate what kind of heat you have unless you're signing away some kind of rights to the property through covenants.

[nuts2uiam]

I concur about Suburban. They are thieves. I only had a gas fireplace and I was being charged $4.99 per gallon. I was so tired of their monopoly of me (their tank - they own-no one else will fill it up) that I paid $1200 to have the tank removed and a new one put it. They charge me $150 to pick it up so they could spray it and pawn it off on another person too. However, I now have Baker and I am gladly paying $1.69 a gallon and I even converted to a gas stove and Bar-b-que but I am still a low end user.

For me natural Gas rocks, but I don't have that as an option here.

[udelslayer]

I've also noticed they try to scare you into keeping their tank in their possession, especially if its buried with the "what if it leaks" scenarios. I'd investigate putting a rider on your insurance to cover the tank if you own it in those events and make sure that no company can lay claim to it. Even Schagrin locks me into a contract disallowing me from buying from another seller. I've had a distribution truck driver with a private company approach me once with a 50% discount because they "had to get rid of the gas" due to a contractual volume sold to a business. In your contract, you can't take advantage of this kind of thing or they'll levy all kinds of fines and the law is on the businesses side. Its almost advantageous to have their tank and then buy your own separate tank for times like that. I think their rules only extend to the specific tank they own.

I'd be willing to use a LP insert for a fireplace, but thats about it. I was leery of this place with the LP HWH, but I'm renting to investigate the area. It heats faster than electric for sure, but I personally feel more than confident about replacing/maintaining an electric HWH myself whereas I wouldn't want to touch gas without a certified installer which increases the costs of ownership. It might also have an impact on home insurance too, plus the need for CO ventilation, etc.

wow $1.69/g is really good and should be the price since its a byproduct of petrol production and follows those fuel cost trends. I'm paying 2.35 or so.