Business ProfileforDiLEO Gas Inc

Since DiLeo took over my previous propane provider, they have billed me a tank rental fee, it started as reasonable fee but now they are increasing the fee with no warning and the increases are unreasonable. This year, the fee doubled from $100 to $200. There is no way they can justify such an exorbitant fee increase for simply having a tank on our property.

DiLeo Gas avoids charging minimum use/rental fees as much as possible, however in some situations they are necessary. As the owner of the tank(s), we are responsible for any compliance and maintenance to conform with all applicable safety regulations. The rental fee helps offset our costs associated with the aforementioned maintenance, compliance, as well as insurance. As a general rule of thumb, we tell our customers that we charge a rental fee if they fail to consume at least 400 gallons of propane per year. The majority of the time, we only actually charge a rental fee if they fail to use at least 250 gallons of propane per year. In the case of this customer, they have not consumed any propane in 6 years. If a customer is not purchasing any propane, we are unable to offset any of the costs incurred to have the equipment on site, let alone make a profit. We have had conversations with the customer with regards to alternative options, like having them purchase the equipment from us, where they would no longer need to "rent" the tank from us, and that would elminate any need for us to charge a fee. Unfortunately when a customer's usage is so low, rental fees are the only way we can keep up with the constantly increasing operating costs to have equipment on site. Two of the largest propane providers in the area have rental/minimum use fees much higher than ours, at $289 and the other $500. These fees are an industry standard, but nonetheless we try our best to have them be as affordable as possible.