Shell Shocked! End of the Road for LPG?
 

Driving up from Cambridgeshire to Yorkshire yesterday and almost out of gas, I popped into my local Shell garage at Fenstanton on the A14. Now they've never been the cheapest but when I saw the price of 73.9 I couldn't quite believe it. With little option I grudgingly put in a tenner’s worth, told them what I thought and drove off, mumbling to myself up the road!

The next LPG garage on route was Shell’s Haddon Service station near Peterborough.

The price? A shocking 78.9!

You may need to re-read those figures. I had to, when I was stood at the pump – just before I drove off.

Up in Halifax it was a different story. Almar Self service 59.0 – bargain! How is it that a little independent garage can manage to sell at 20p less than Shell?

The way I see it LPG needs to be around half the price of diesel to be a viable option. If these prices are a sign of things to come it might be the end of the road for Autogas.

Is it the tax or the fuel which has risen i wonder ?
Yes could well be the end of another LPG Phase just like in the 1980's . Volvo did official LPG conversions in their dealers from 1978 to about 1985 , then by the end of the 1980's the price of LPG went up so high as to make it uneconomic when i took 2 kits back off our two vovlos , they remain in the attic to this day .. One of the cars still lives on :-)

Sure, the harsh weather in Europe has pushed prices up but I think the Shell garages mentioned are guilty of blatant profiteering.

Price hike
 

Those two LPG stations on the A14/A1 have always been pretty pricey. Where LPG is sold by BP or by Shell you can always reckon that it will be at the top end of the local price range.

I've previously found that Jet, Morrisons and Asda are usually quite a bit cheaper.

The price of LPG at the Jet station local to my workplace has gone up since Monday this week from 61p per litre to 66.9p per litre.

I'm sure I remember being told that the price of LPG is linked to the price of domestic gas, not the price of petrol. If so then that might explain things. British Gas has of course this week announced an increase in the price of gas.

At the same local garage, diesel is now 124.9p per litre, so yes, LPG is more expensive, but it's still a lot less than diesel or petrol.

Six years ago when I first started using LPG it was around 30 to 32p per litre, with petrol and diesel around 70 to 75p, so I guess that realtively speaking, LPG is a tad more expensive these days.

I guess that the net result is that LPG is a good bet if you're already converted, but that a new conversion has a longer pay-back time.

Jack

The cheapest local LPG pump has gone up in a few weeks from 61.9p/l to 67.9p/l

It is getting pretty borderline whether it is worth filling up with LPG

Shell and BP have always been quite a bit more expensive than other stations. Asda do tend to be the best price for each area from what I have seen. Gas yards are usualy good value aswell.

Looks like LPG is now around 65p (was 60p or just under only a few weeks ago). With petrol now at around £1.25 LPG is still just over half the price of petrol so even factoring in the little extra LPG used compared to petrol the savings are still there.

When petrol hits £1.50 or even £2 in years to some if LPG is near half price then the savings will be much greater. When I first started using LPG it was 27p and petrol was aroun 60p ish. LPG was less than half price but only 33p less than petrol. With LPG now at 65p and petrol at 125p I'm saving 60p so a greater saving than when I started.

I do feel ripped off with paying 65p for LPG but 125p for fuel is more like being robbed. I'd rather be ripped off than robbed TBH:censored:

I appreciate what I put in the tank is petrol but £1:39 per litre is what they were charging at the M61 services earlier this week, I was bingo and had no option bar put enough in to get me home, this is another garage to avoid - Mike

Sure but the window for it to actually be worth while is getting smaller. My 940 won't do more than 20 mpg on LPG. On a good day it has done 36 to the gallon on petrol. Admittedly 27 to the gallon is a more realistic comparison. At that it is still worth using LPG.

With the price rises though it means that I would be paying less per mile running a diesel car doing 40mpg than I am running the 940 on LPG. That was never the case until the recent massive LPG price hike.

Looking at the average fuel price history on whatprice.co.uk unleaded and diesel seem to have gone up by 32% and 34% respectively since Jan 06. LPG has gone up 51% in the same time, so the gap is narrowing.

Unfortunately, I'm expecting more big hikes this winter or am I just being too pessimistic?

fixed it for you:coffee:
it was always a matter of When , not if, the price of lpg used for motor fuel would be hiked to the same level as petrol/tractor fuel.