Suburban Propane buys Inergy(owner of Pyrofax)

[gasman353]

I learned early Thursday that Suburban propane has acquired the company that owns Pyrofax, Inergy, for $1.8 billion. This concerns me a lot due to the fact that there is beginning to be less and less compition in the market of home heating, more so for propane than oil. Currently there are two giant propane companies and just a few small guys. Amerigas is the first, they own Liberty Propane, Blue Flame and a couple others in the state. Then comes Suburban who now has Pyrofax, Stevens, Newtons and others. Then Irving, who do not service our area. I can think of three independents that are out there. I am not much for the government sticking their noses into private business but I have to wonder, is there some need for the State of Vermont Public Service Board to get involved to regulate them?  Our power companies are all regulated, our Natural gas company is regulated, the phone companies, and I think the cable company is. Just my view, had to share.

[Razzle Dazzle]

I heard of the same acquisition about a month ago but I guess it hasn't actually happened yet.
http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2012/06/22/suburban-propane-partners-l-p-extends-consent-date-of-exchange-offers-and-consent-solicitations-in-connection-with-its-planned-acquisition-of-inergy-l-p-s-retail-propane-operations/

Regardless, they are both giants.  Stick with the local owned independents.  They care about their customers, their employees, and don't have share holders with deep pockets that have to be kept full.

[rod anode]

that happened about a year ago

[gasman353]

Pyro fax took over all the local companies a year ago, suburban just took them overa month or so ago. The worst problem is, there are very few "local" guys left.

[Razzle Dazzle]

A  couple locals that provide Propane that should be considered:
Jack Corse in Jeffersonville
Rowleys in Milton
Pattersons in Richmond

Winter is not the best time to switch. Plan ahead and start shopping early spring.

[klbates]

Thought I'd stick my two cents in.  We move to Fairfax a couple of years ago.  Had an underground tank with Amerigas.  Found out after the fact that they knew the gage was broken and had meant to get it fixed.  So we never knew how much propane we had.  We told them we needed to move the tank because we were building a garage on that site.  They never responded to anything.  Most times the phone went unanswered and phone messages not returned.  Switched to Pyrofax, they came and dug up the Amerigas tank and put it off the side of the driveway down by the road.  Called Amerigas to terminate their service and pick up their tank.  Nothing happened for weeks.  Finally called the home office out west somewhere.  That made it disappear.  Wasn't happy with Pyrofax so switched to Bourne's Energy in Swanton.  Couldn't be happier with customer service and competitive propane pricing.  Apparently there is a law in Vermont that says propane companies have to remove their tanks within a certain amount of time within termination of service.  The Vermont Attorney Generals Office got involved, Amerigas was fined heavily, and some of us unsuspecting prior customers received money back from Amerigas.  Highly recommend Bourne's Energy.

[Wormerod]

I just wanted to through this out there for those in the Fairfax area. This fall I joined Hilltop Energy Buyers Group in Jeffersonville. This is a coop that negotiates a bulk purchase of propane for it's members. I joined after I received my Ameriguard contract from Amerigas and saw that the price had once again risen much higher then the port price per gallon. ($2.89 for my 1500 gallons per year)

The fee to join the buyers group was $75 for the year. Amerigas won the service contract this year for the coop, and the price per gallon is over 86 cents cheaper  ($2.069/gallon when using over 900 gallons per year) from the initial contact offered by Amerigas when I was purchasing as an individual purchaser. I am on target to save over $1200 this year alone.

Before joining, I researched them with the Ag's office and reviewed feedback on the web for Hilltop Energy Buyers Group. They are the real deal, and so far I have had zero issues.
when joining the coop, if the vendor for the year is not your current vendor, then you receive a free tank swap and other benefits.

There is also a $50 referral award for getting new member to join.

I am not sure if you can still join for this year or not, but check them out on Facebook, and on the web. So far I can say that I have had an extremely pleasant experience With them.

Besides being a member, I have no other affiliation with with this buyers group.

Bill Ormerod

[Razzle Dazzle]

It certainly pays to shop. Buying energy is a big investment and shouldn't be taken lightly in today's volatile markets.