Category: Latest Created on Wednesday, 07 July 2010 00:00 Hits: 456
BP has denied it is exploiting its LPG customers by delaying deliveries during the bad weather so it can charge them more for their fuel.
Dundee solicitor Scott Williamson received a much-needed delivery at his Tentsmuir home in north-east Fife on December 23 after running out a week earlier.
Though grateful that his and his wife's Christmas wasn't spent huddled round hastily-bought electric fires and checking water pipes weren't frozen, he isn't prepared to let BP off the hook.
His last delivery of liquid petroleum gas was in April and he said BP is meant to ensure customers receive regular deliveries through a top-up system.
Instead, without a delivery until December 23, his fuel did run out.
He understands he is not the only LPG customer in this position, and said, "I come back to my suspicion that BP hang back until the winter price rises are implemented before making deliveries — which will be of larger quantities at a sometimes significantly increased price."
Mr Williamson explained that his April delivery was charged at 54.55p a litre and the previous one in January was at 48.22p. Earlier this month he received notice from BP that the charge would go up to 67.95p but has since learned it will be only 65.95p.
"BP claim that market rises make this inevitable but if I had received a delivery in August, September or October it would have been for a smaller amount of gas — and at a significantly lower price."
Mr Williamson is challenging BP to bring in a more robust delivery system to make tankers less vulnerable to bad weather. He believes two other customers in north-east Fife were not as lucky as he was, as the driver who delivered to him could not get his tanker to their properties because of snow and ice.
"LPG is mostly supplied to rural customers who aren't able to get a mains connection and the same usually goes for oil customers," he said. "Because we live in the country, the risk of access being adversely affected by winter weather is much greater than if we lived in a town or suburb.
"This is the market in which BP operates — they know that their customers live in places which can be difficult to get to in bad weather. However, that is a problem which can be managed.
"When I asked if they could have made a delivery earlier than they did, they immediately trotted out a line about the bad weather causing them problems from November onwards."
A spokesman for BP categorically denied deliveries were delayed to force customers to pay more.
"LPG is a globally traded commodity (like crude oil or coffee beans) and prices ultimately depend on supply and demand," he said.
The company accepted criticism about bad weather affecting deliveries, and said, "We'll look into how we managed the impact of the bad weather and do what we can to limit these problems in the future."