Asking what LPG tank monitoring costs is only half the question. The other half, the one almost nobody calculates, is what it costs to keep going without it: the wasted trips, the run-outs, and the staff hours spent driving out to read a level. This article works through both figures.
What not knowing the level costs you today
In most LPG operations, tank level is known one of three ways: someone goes and looks, the customer calls once it is already low, or it is estimated from historical consumption and a calendar. All three share the same flaw — the number arrives late, or arrives wrong.
Three concrete costs follow from that:
The half-full delivery. A truck rolls out to refill a tank that still had capacity. You spent the fuel, the driver’s hours and a delivery slot, and you dropped a fraction of what the vehicle could have discharged. Cost per litre delivered goes through the roof.
The run-out. This is the asymmetric one: the missing gas is cheap, but the stopped boiler, the dryer idle mid-harvest or the industrial kitchen out of service are not. And it tends to happen at the worst moment, because consumption accelerates exactly when the operation is at full tilt.
The manual inspection. Reading a dipstick or a gauge requires travel. At an urban tank that is minutes; at a farm, a mine or a remote station it is hours of a vehicle and a person, plus the risk of the journey itself. And the reading expires the same day.
What the numbers look like for those who already did it
Myriota, the satellite operator whose technology we distribute, publishes the case of Gasbot, a company dedicated to gas tank monitoring. Philip Livingston of Gasbot reports two figures after deploying satellite telemetry: a reduction of more than 90% in run-out incidents and a 40% to 60% reduction in truck trips.
Those figures are worth reading for what they are: the outcome of one specific operation, not a universal promise. But they point clearly at where the return sits. It is not in the price of the gas, it is in the logistics — fewer trips, fuller loads per trip, and almost no emergencies.
The three cost components
When you request a quote for remote gas tank level measurement, the price always breaks down into the same three parts:
1. The level sensor. This is the most variable item, because it depends on the tank. Measuring an above-ground stationary tank is not the same as an underground one, nor a domestic LPG tank the same as an industrial cryogenic one. The sensor is chosen by tank type, measurement range and installation conditions.
2. The transmitting device. This is what carries the reading from the tank to the platform. It is also where you decide whether the system will work at every tank or only at the ones with good cellular signal.
3. Connectivity and platform. The recurring cost. It follows reporting frequency directly: a tank reporting hourly consumes more than one reporting twice a day, and not every tank needs the same cadence.
That last point is what saves the most in a real deployment. A tank with stable, predictable consumption does not need to report every hour; one with variable consumption in a critical operation does. Setting frequency tank by tank, rather than applying one setting to all of them, changes the recurring cost substantially.
Why coverage decides the real price
There is a trap in comparing quotes on device price alone. A cellular-only system is cheaper up front and works perfectly at an urban tank. The problem is that the tanks where remote monitoring actually pays for itself are the other ones — the distant ones, where going to look costs half a day.
And those are, almost by definition, the ones with poor cellular coverage. A device that reports intermittently forces you back to the old method — send someone — at precisely the most expensive tank to visit. The savings on the device evaporate in the first quarter.
That is why we recommend a hybrid architecture. The Myriota AssetHawk satellite modem uses LTE-M or NB-IoT cellular where available, across more than 190 countries, and switches automatically to the HyperPulse satellite network where there is none. Nothing to choose in advance, nothing to configure per tank: the device handles it. Up to ten years on two AA batteries, IP68 enclosure, and it reads Bluetooth Low Energy sensors — including liquid level in tanks and containers.
How to work out the return
The calculation does not need to be sophisticated. Estimate, for your own operation:
How many refill trips last year went to tanks that turned out to be more than half full. How many times there was a shutdown or an emergency delivery from a run-out, and what each one cost. How many person-hours went into driving out to read levels.
The sum of those three is the annual cost of not having the data. Set against the cost of installing and running the telemetry, it usually decides on its own. And in operations with scattered or remote tanks, it decides fast.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know how much gas is left in a tank without going to look? With a level sensor fitted to the tank that transmits the reading to a monitoring platform. The sensor measures, the modem transmits, and you see the level from anywhere.
How much does remote LPG tank monitoring cost? It depends on three variables: the sensor each tank needs, the number of tanks and the reporting frequency. There is no single price, because an industrial cryogenic tank and a domestic stationary one do not take the same sensor.
Does it work on tanks with no cellular coverage? Yes, with satellite connectivity. That is the scenario where it is most justified, because it is where manual inspection is most expensive.
Do we need to run electrical power to the tank? No. The device runs on batteries, with up to ten years of life depending on the reporting frequency configured.
How long does it take to pay back? It depends on how many unnecessary trips and how many run-outs your operation has today. The more scattered and remote the tanks, the faster.
Does it integrate with our current system? Yes. We integrate telemetry, sensors and SCADA systems to monitor critical variables and keep operations connected, even beyond terrestrial coverage.
To see the full solution, with the architecture and application cases, visit our remote LPG tank monitoring page. If you would rather we look at your case directly, get in touch or message us on WhatsApp — tell us how many tanks you have and where they are, which is what determines the configuration.