In April we looked at LPG prices and concluded they were too high.
The New Zealand dollar cost of imported LPG fell sharply in late 2008 but retail prices didn’t reflect this fall. The margin between the landed cost of LPG and the retail price is greater than for other fuels such as petrol.
We have concerns about the high level of concentration in this industry and have raised our concerns with the Minister of Energy Gerry Brownlee. We believe the LPG industry deserves the same scrutiny that’s given to the electricity and natural gas industries.
Members have contacted us with concerns about high LPG prices. We appreciate hearing your stories and suggest you may also want to consider writing to the minister.
More from consumer.org.nz
- LPG prices - our full report.
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We use bottled LPG from BOC (now Elgas.) After challenging Elgas on the cylinder price of $137, I was told that there was a "pricing error". This month's statement (our 2nd from Elgas) has adjustments to three of the five cylinders they have now supplied (I assume the other two are pending) reducing the price to a reasonable $104 per cylinder. No explaination given, but I'm not complaining!
While it seems the support system is in some disarray, credit to the Elgas staff who were very friendly and helpful.