Tan Brothers gas supply (the firm trades as Tan Bros Gas Supply) is one of Singapore's older LPG cylinder distributors, and it is an authorised dealer for Esso and Mobil cooking gas. If your flat or shophouse runs on a portable gas bottle instead of piped town gas, Tan Bros is the kind of vendor you call to get a fresh 12.7kg cylinder dropped at your door, often inside 30 minutes. The harder question is whether sticking with an LPG cylinder still makes financial sense in 2026, now that piped town gas costs 23.89 cents a kWh and induction cooking has gotten cheaper to run. This guide lays out what Tan Bros charges, the deposit you put down, and how the three cooking options stack up on real 2026 numbers.
Tan Bros Gas Supply is a Singapore LPG distributor that delivers refillable cooking gas cylinders to homes and food businesses. It is listed on Esso's official authorised-distributor directory for residential LPG, so the cylinders it sells are genuine Esso and Mobil bottles rather than grey-market refills. The contactable line is 6455 1169 (a second line, 6456 4392, also appears on its own site).
The pitch is speed and availability. The company advertises delivery in about 30 minutes and operates on Sundays and public holidays, which matters when your stove dies mid-cook on a long weekend. It also offers stove and hob installation, regulator fitting, and gas-leak checks, so a single call can cover both the refill and the safety side.
One thing to be clear about: LPG cylinders and piped town gas are two different systems. If your kitchen has a gas point on the wall fed by a meter, you are on town gas and you do not need a cylinder distributor at all. Tan Bros is only relevant if your stove runs off a portable bottle stored in a cabinet or by the kitchen wall.
Esso and Mobil distributors, Tan Bros included, do not publish a fixed price list. Esso's own ordering policy is that the cylinder price is confirmed by the distributor over the phone after you place an order, because LPG is a commodity and the rate moves with global gas prices. So treat any number you see online as a guide, not a quote, and confirm on the call.
As a market reference for June 2026, a refill exchange of a standard 12.7kg LPG cylinder in Singapore runs around the high-$30s, with retail listings clustering near $38 to $40 for the gas itself. On top of that, a first-time customer pays a refundable cylinder deposit, commonly in the $10 to $35 range depending on the brand and bottle, which you get back when you return the empty cylinder for good. Regulators and hoses, if you need new ones, are a one-time cost of roughly $20 to $50.
Two sizes cover almost every household: the 12.7kg cylinder, which is the standard home bottle, and the 14kg cylinder used by heavier cooks and small F&B outlets. Subsequent refills are just the gas price plus delivery; you exchange your empty for a full one and the deposit only happens once. For a typical home that cooks daily, a 12.7kg bottle lasts roughly two to three months.
| Item | Typical cost | How often you pay |
|---|---|---|
| 12.7kg cylinder refill (gas) | Around $38-$40 | Each refill (every ~2-3 months) |
| 14kg cylinder refill (gas) | Around $42-$45 | Each refill |
| Refundable cylinder deposit | About $10-$35 | Once (refunded on return) |
| Regulator + hose (if needed) | About $20-$50 | One-time |
| Delivery | Often free, or a small fee | Per order |
To compare fairly you have to convert everything to the same unit of useful heat. A full 12.7kg LPG cylinder holds roughly 172 kWh of energy. Town gas from City Energy is billed per kWh, and induction draws electricity per kWh, so once you know your kWh you can price each option directly.
Here are the verified 2026 tariffs. City Energy's town gas general tariff is 23.89 cents per kWh including GST for 1 April to 30 June 2026. SP Group's regulated household electricity tariff is 29.72 cents per kWh including GST (27.27 cents before GST) for the same quarter. LPG sits in between on an energy basis because you are paying a packaged retail price for the gas plus the convenience of doorstep delivery.
Run the maths on the energy in one 12.7kg cylinder (about 172 kWh). At roughly $39 a refill, that is about 22.7 cents per kWh of LPG energy, which actually undercuts both town gas and electricity per unit. Cylinder LPG stays the cheapest fuel per kWh in 2026, with town gas close behind and induction the most expensive to run. Where induction claws some of that back is efficiency: an induction hob transfers around 85% of its energy into the pot versus roughly 40% for an open gas flame, so in real cooking you waste less electricity than the raw tariff suggests.
| Method | Rate (incl GST) | Cost per 172 kWh | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| LPG cylinder (Tan Bros / Esso) | ~22.7 c/kWh* | About $39 per refill | Market price, June 2026 |
| Town gas (City Energy) | 23.89 c/kWh | About $41.09 | City Energy tariff |
| Induction (SP Group electricity) | 29.72 c/kWh | About $51.12 | SP Group tariff |
An LPG cylinder makes sense if your home has no piped-gas connection, if you want the lowest fuel cost per unit, or if you value the instant high heat a naked flame gives for wok hei. The catch is the logistics: you have to store a pressurised bottle, swap it when it runs dry (always at the worst moment), and trust the regulator and hose. A leak check is worth doing whenever you change a cylinder.
Town gas wins on convenience. It never runs out mid-meal, there is nothing to store, and you only deal with one supplier and one monthly bill. The trade-off is that City Energy is the sole piped-gas provider, so there is no shopping around on rate, and the gas portion of your monthly utilities bill is whatever the quarterly tariff happens to be.
Induction is the safest and easiest to clean, with no flame, no cylinder, and no gas line. It costs the most per unit of energy, you need flat-bottomed magnetic cookware, and the hob itself is a few hundred dollars upfront. If you are already comparing energy plans, our electricity retailer comparison shows how an open-market plan can shave the per-kWh rate that induction depends on.
Ordering is a phone call rather than an app. Call 6455 1169, tell them your cylinder size (12.7kg for most homes), your address, and whether you are a new customer needing a deposit and regulator or an existing one doing a straight exchange. They confirm the gas price on the call, then deliver, often within the 30-minute window they advertise, including Sundays and public holidays.
For a new setup, have the delivery person fit the regulator and do a leak check before they leave; this is part of the service. Keep your deposit receipt safe, because that is what you hand back to reclaim the deposit when you stop using cylinders. If you ever switch to town gas or induction later, return the empty cylinder to recover that money.
Budgeting for the kitchen is easier when you see fuel as one line in your wider home running costs. Plug your figures into our personal budget calculator alongside electricity and water, and read our guide on the best ways to pay household bills so a recurring cost like cooking gas does not slip through the cracks.
Tan Bros, like all Esso and Mobil distributors, confirms the price on the phone after you order rather than publishing a fixed rate. As a June 2026 market guide, a 12.7kg refill runs around $38 to $40 for the gas, plus a one-time refundable deposit of roughly $10 to $35 for new customers.
Yes. Tan Bros Gas Supply appears on Esso's official authorised-distributor directory for residential LPG, so it supplies genuine Esso and Mobil cylinders. It advertises about 15 years in the trade and offers installation, regulator fitting, and gas-leak checks alongside delivery.
On a pure per-kWh basis a cylinder is the cheapest in 2026, at roughly 22.7 cents per kWh versus 23.89 cents for City Energy town gas and 29.72 cents for SP Group electricity (all incl GST). Induction narrows the gap because it wastes less heat, but cylinder gas stays the lowest raw fuel cost.
For a household that cooks daily, a standard 12.7kg LPG cylinder typically lasts about two to three months, holding roughly 172 kWh of energy. Heavy cooking, frying, or running a small food business will burn through it faster, which is why some F&B users choose the 14kg size.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.