LP Pricing

[scfa99]

Just had my yearly lock-in renew, went from 1.89 to 2.19. I'm told that the summer is the cheapest time to lockin. Of course they want to charge me 255/mo for the equal payt plan. I told them their crazy, i burned 800 gallons last year, do the math. Got it knocked down to 180/mo, which is still high. Now i'm motivated even more not to hear the furnace kick on.

 

[begreen]

Currently $3.47 /gal here! (Ouch - Suburban Propane ****). Lockin prices are supposed to be mailed out next week.

 

[Todd]

Propane, natural gas, and oil will all continue to go up. Just wait til the first hurricane hits in the gulf. We are already at the Katrina prices of last year. Also heard the Russians are flexing their muscles with their huge natural gas reserves. They own 65% of the worlds natural gas!

I'm still waiting to see the firewood prices jump around these parts. They have been pretty stable so far.

 

[drizler]

It may not be the best route for you due to how much you use but I found out years ago its about 40% cheaper to haul your own propane and mantain your own bottles. Check out the price of the cheapest gas station refiller you can find and compare it to what you are paying delivered. 100 lb bottles sell for about $90 each at Lowes. Of course the best thing is heat your house with wood or corn or pellets then use the propane for backup. Of course then hauling your own is a real deal and one single tank will serve you well..

 

[HarryBack]

It may not be the best route for you due to how much you use but I found out years ago its about 40% cheaper to haul your own propane and mantain your own bottles. Check out the price of the cheapest gas station refiller you can find and compare it to what you are paying delivered. 100 lb bottles sell for about $90 each at Lowes. Of course the best thing is heat your house with wood or corn or pellets then use the propane for backup. Of course then hauling your own is a real deal and one single tank will serve you well..

yea, Driz, Ive heard the same thing! Ive actually had customers come in to us and have us fill their 100 lb bottle, and tell me Im cheaper then them buying it from their gas company....oddly enough, I buy our retail gas from the SAME company they do. We only got our tank to sell the propane to folks with grills, etc.....also another interesting thing are the huge swings in gas prices. Totally amazes me! But I guess I can see a bit.....fuel and lablor costs if the gas has to be trucked/railed in and delivered, versus if the gas is piped right to the home....

 

[BrotherBart]

In the old farm house I'm in there is an old propane stove. When i told the neighbor that I was going to rip it out and put in an electric, she looked at me like I was an alien. Just wait . . .

When a couple built on the property next to ours they plumbed the house for gas and put in a propane tank and central heat. They then started campaigning the neighbors to get a petition up to try to get natural gas piped out here. We looked at THEM like they were aliens. We all have electric heat pumps and wood stoves.

That was fifteen years ago and I still chuckle every time I hear the backup alarm on that big propane truck when it backs up their driveway. And to add insult to injury, if my stove smokes the smoke always heads their way.

 

[drizler]

We all get looked at like aliens at some time or another. I used to tell em I heated my house for around $100/month in the dead of winter with corn and all I got was the "he is full of %^$ grin". Just today I tried to convince the guy who started me looking for a pellet stove a few years back that he can burn a high % mix of corn in his Astroflamme pellet stove. Once again the look like I am crazy. He is concerned about the high price of pellets again this year and doesn't have his purchased for next season yet. He just won't believe that there is damned little difference between corn and pellets except for a slightly noticeable increase in heat and slightly more corrosion. He still didn't believe me when I told him that bagged burning 11% corn was only around $140 bagged as opposed to $230+ for pellets and all he had to do was the math. I guess I will just get in the old saucer and fly back to Mars.
With that propane stove rig I wouldn't rip it out for electric, no way at least here at 15 cents per kwh. I use propane for our dryer and have for many years and that doesn't use more than 175 gallons a year figuring 1 load a day in our oversize dryer. That stove rig is a prime example of a good hookup to feed yourself. Even the smaller 50 lb tank works well for my dryer filling it every 3 months or so and it is smaller and easier to lug around than a 100. Still the bigger tank moves around easily if you set it on a hand dolly with a ratchet strap wrapped around. They even make an auto switching valve so you can use 2 tanks and never run out or just take your time filling the MT. Just don't try to buy any of it from the propane company or they will look at you like an alien. When I did that years back they took it as some form of blastfamy. "Oh no we can't sell any parts or tanks to consumers, safety, laws bla bla bla....." You can get all that stuff from most any hardware store in most states or at camper trailer sales, repair places. Oh and one other thing, you don't have to have any of those overfill protection valves on the 100LB tanks either and lots of mom and pop places don't look too hard at the tank expiration dates either.

 

[HarryBack]

actually, the 100 lb tanks are exempt from having the OPD valves. Most folks just cant easily lug them around....looks funny strapped the the hood of the BMW Z5, you know....and where would the golf clubs go?

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Just had my yearly lock-in renew, went from 1.89 to 2.19. I'm told that the summer is the cheapest time to lockin. Of course they want to charge me 255/mo for the equal payt plan. I told them their crazy, i burned 800 gallons last year, do the math. Got it knocked down to 180/mo, which is still high. Now i'm motivated even more not to hear the furnace kick on.

Summer the best time to "lock-in" the price!!??
You could have fooled me!!
The summer price went down to $1.95 from $2.15/gal.
Big woop.......

Rob

 

[Roospike]

My brother just bought a new house and has LP for heat . He is now looking into a add on wood furnace to put in the basement . He was calling around for a lock in price and he told me its really high this year. Here in the Med-West LP is $1.32 - $1.40 a gallon . Last year the mid to late summer lock in price was around $1.05 - $1.13 a gallon . Some of you guys are at $1.80 and over $2.00 a gallon . Thats just crazy prices . We will stick with NG for our back up heat. We averaged around $40. for NG per month last year . I have a family of 5 and the water heater is always going for the washing mach.

 

[drizler]

I just had my 50 lb propane tank filled this afternoon. $2.92 / gallon with NY's lovely taxes. Glad I only use it to dry clothes. One big problem with the delivered prices are all the little extras they add in as fees ect. Too bad they don't make a corn or pellet fueled dryer.

 

[Corie]

you're on to something with that Driz, I have to tell you.

Maybe I ought to start working on a design for that too!

(Yeah right, one more project and the fiance/wife/live in girlfriend will probably tell me to leave!)

 

[elkimmeg]

They do make cheap solar dryer. Commonely called clothes lines

 

[scfa99]

I have a bad feeling about this winter. I think the NE is due for a very cold winter. Just got a postcard in the mail from the place i bought my fireplace. It has a sale on pellets 219 a ton, it said buy now, because last year peak season they sold them for 309 a ton. i feel bad for people that invested in Pellet stoves, at those prices i'm not sure its worth using them.

 

[PutnamJct]

Sadly enough, $300 a ton pellets may still be a substantial savings vs $3.00 + a gallon oil. (I know it would still work out for me)