Calor Gas - Need more Transparancy

[MisterB]

I've been with Calor for about 13 years as part of a group of houses. The gas was installed, to each house with a common tank and individual meters and, at first, the developer owned the meters. However, as the houses were sold, Calor took over the meters, paying a nominal amount for for them. I think there was a 30 Euro annual charge applied then at that time for each meter, but I could be wrong on this.
My gas charges always seem higher than I expect and I've asked about it but I've never been satisfied with the replies. My house is very well insulated and I have a condenser boiler, very high spec hot water tank etc.


I'd be very interested in experiences or views of others on my experience as the whole Calor thing seems anything but open and transparent. So here are my concerns.

1. Why do we pay a meter charge when Calor have the economy of only one tank for multiple houses? If I had my own tank, I presume I'd only pay for the gas fills and have no meter and calor would have to call to fill multiple tanks, each as required by the needs of individual houses. I think our shared tank currenly sends a signal to calor when it needs to be topped up , so it's pretty efficient.
2. Do all people pay the same meter charge? Ours is 27 cents a day or 33.75 inclusive of vat. How did we get from a 30 Euro annual charge to a daily charge and why? It all seems a bit off. A daily charge? Come on.
3. Do all customers pay the same rate for gas? We paid 2.8668/cubic meter plus vat on our last bill. It should be much more transparent.
4. I've heard that in Northern Ireland, if you want to move gas suppliers, the new supplier can take over the tank etc i.e. the current supplier cannot make it difficult by saying you have to change your tank etc over too. Has anyone any knowledge or thoughts on this. The Northern Ireland model would make sense here too, if ours is a competitive market or attempting to be. Calor have told me it doesn't apply in the Republic.
5. In a petrol station, weights and measures regularly check readings of the pumps against the actual volume of fuel dispensed. Is this done on the calor meters and are these checks available for consumers? If no checks are made as above, does calor check the gas delivered to the tank against that charged through the meters over time to ensure that the two agree? If the above check is made, is this available for the consumer and does some outside agency do random checks on calor? Some check is surely necessary or the supply is open to error without anyone other than the supplier knowing.
6. Is it worth considering a move to Flogas?
7. Calor have told me that their replacement cycle for meters is 10 years and then they said 18 years when I questioned it. My own house has more than one meter so the daily charges for each meter are a real penalty. (It made sense to have more than one a few years ago as I offered holiday accommodation in part of my home, but not any more.) Calor say there is a cost to changing this now and a bigger meter will have a higher daily charge. It's hard to win! Any ideas?

I look forward to replies, ideas and comparisons.

 

[wbbs]

I can only answer one of your questions, if you had your own tank supplied by Calor they would charge you €200 per year maintenance charge, you never own the tank. That annual fee was approx €70 until this year and has been increased. As for the maintenance that you get for this amount, in 22 years I have had it checked twice by them, once every 10 yrs and lo and behold they actually cleaned and painted it last week, first time ever and to honest not very necessary, it can't even be seen.

 

[Shane007]

Estate shared tank with meters is the most expensive form of gas. I would stick with Calor but change to your own bulk storage tank. Play the ball with them and say you are going to change to Flogas. Clair have good offers at the moment with first fill free and decent per litre price.