Hello all-
long story short, when I first gave my 35 year old electric cook range the heave-ho and switched to propane for cooking (in 1999), I got my tank and supply from a [then] local family owned company [Gauthiers], who assured me I'd _never_ incur any kind of "tank rent" It was a "handshake deal" as that's all that those country gents ever did, and it was clear that they were good for their word 'til their dying (or retiring) day.
my propane use is only for my cookstove (propane burners + propane oven, no pilot lights in either- electric ignition in both), and it gets used a lot some times of year, or some years, and not all that much or often other times-depending on the rest of life.
3 years later, the owners of the local propane company retired, and sold their company to a regional company [Blue Flame], which, a few years later, was bought by some huge propane holding company owned out of Texas "Heritage propane" still doing business as/ hiding behind "blue flame" -- which is now trying to charge me quarterly tank rent of about 7.50 every three months.
$30 a year in propane tank rent won't, by itself, send me to the poorhouse, but in these days of escalating energy prices, and simultaneous soaring profits of fossil fuel suppliers, it's insult to injury, and the intolerance in my blood to this kind of feudal absentee exploitation without consent is what got my ancestors kicked out of Europe for trying to overthrow some despotic monarchs, and then caused them to join in tossing the Brits outta here.... and I'll be d___'d if I'll submit to it.
I know that the law is on my side, in that the absentee propane feudal lords from Dallas TX can't change a preexisting contract/ course of dealing without my consent.... but their 1-800-"customer service" flunkies [what a total BS term unless you think of it in terms of a bull servicing a cow, with the customer being the cow] keep acting dumb and acting as if I have no choice but to pay it no matter how many times I point out that they can't change an existing contract/course of dealing without my consent.
I was at Tractor Supply last week and saw that they sell "100 pound" propane cylinders for about $120.
I know that propane tanks, especially when outside in the cold, need a certain minimum volume to maintain enough vapor pressure to create adequate flow for indoor propane appliances.
But if a 100 pounder would work to run my cookstove (or better still, a pair of smaller ones), I'd rather buy, hoist and truck a hundred pounder to get refilled occasionally than to submit to this kind of deliberate effort to screw consumers by changing a deal mid-stream after 9 years.
Would a "100 pounder" be big enough to run a large propane 4 burner range with propane oven during the temps in a VT winter? Would something smaller than a 100 pounder work?
If so, I'm ready to issue a formal written "notice against trespass" against the new arrogant absentee interloper bastards to stay away from my existing tank that originally came from the [now retired] decent local guys, and stay entirely off 'a my property unless they want to meet a consumer fraud action and/ or some other unwelcoming things, then I'll let it run 'til it's empty, and meanwhile buy myself a 100 pounder tank to get filled privately and hook up when the existing cylinder runs out. then someday buy a second 100 pounder so that I can rotate and switch off cylinders.
long story short, when I first gave my 35 year old electric cook range the heave-ho and switched to propane for cooking (in 1999), I got my tank and supply from a [then] local family owned company [Gauthiers], who assured me I'd _never_ incur any kind of "tank rent" It was a "handshake deal" as that's all that those country gents ever did, and it was clear that they were good for their word 'til their dying (or retiring) day.
my propane use is only for my cookstove (propane burners + propane oven, no pilot lights in either- electric ignition in both), and it gets used a lot some times of year, or some years, and not all that much or often other times-depending on the rest of life.
3 years later, the owners of the local propane company retired, and sold their company to a regional company [Blue Flame], which, a few years later, was bought by some huge propane holding company owned out of Texas "Heritage propane" still doing business as/ hiding behind "blue flame" -- which is now trying to charge me quarterly tank rent of about 7.50 every three months.
$30 a year in propane tank rent won't, by itself, send me to the poorhouse, but in these days of escalating energy prices, and simultaneous soaring profits of fossil fuel suppliers, it's insult to injury, and the intolerance in my blood to this kind of feudal absentee exploitation without consent is what got my ancestors kicked out of Europe for trying to overthrow some despotic monarchs, and then caused them to join in tossing the Brits outta here.... and I'll be d___'d if I'll submit to it.
I know that the law is on my side, in that the absentee propane feudal lords from Dallas TX can't change a preexisting contract/ course of dealing without my consent.... but their 1-800-"customer service" flunkies [what a total BS term unless you think of it in terms of a bull servicing a cow, with the customer being the cow] keep acting dumb and acting as if I have no choice but to pay it no matter how many times I point out that they can't change an existing contract/course of dealing without my consent.
I was at Tractor Supply last week and saw that they sell "100 pound" propane cylinders for about $120.
I know that propane tanks, especially when outside in the cold, need a certain minimum volume to maintain enough vapor pressure to create adequate flow for indoor propane appliances.
But if a 100 pounder would work to run my cookstove (or better still, a pair of smaller ones), I'd rather buy, hoist and truck a hundred pounder to get refilled occasionally than to submit to this kind of deliberate effort to screw consumers by changing a deal mid-stream after 9 years.
Would a "100 pounder" be big enough to run a large propane 4 burner range with propane oven during the temps in a VT winter? Would something smaller than a 100 pounder work?
If so, I'm ready to issue a formal written "notice against trespass" against the new arrogant absentee interloper bastards to stay away from my existing tank that originally came from the [now retired] decent local guys, and stay entirely off 'a my property unless they want to meet a consumer fraud action and/ or some other unwelcoming things, then I'll let it run 'til it's empty, and meanwhile buy myself a 100 pounder tank to get filled privately and hook up when the existing cylinder runs out. then someday buy a second 100 pounder so that I can rotate and switch off cylinders.
