Bates County Live spoke with a local propane delivery agent, who asked to remain anonymous- "It's tough making a delivery to say, a single mom who's on a tight budget anyway. Then we have to tell her there is a minimum purchase AND it's gonna be $4 a gallon. I'm not sure what people are gonna do". According to the Propane Education and Research Council there are 900,000 U.S. farms that depend on propane as well as six million households that use the fuel as their main form of heating.
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| An empty propane tank has become an expensive problem |
National news sources say it's the old supply and demand thing. We've had a colder than usual Winter so propane stockpiles are running low. Or are they? Suppliers interviewed yesterday were quoted as saying "We're still gonna be able to get it, but prices just keep going up".
The Attorney General’s Office has announced it will investigate the cause of the rise in the price of propane gas locally. Last check yesterday found propane at $3.50 a gallon in Bates County- nationwide, however, prices can be found well over $5. As of now, Governors of 33 states have declared states of emergency as propane gets more expensive.
According to Northfield News, a propane shortage could be partially the result of a natural gas shortage and adding to the misery was the rupture of a natural gas pipeline on Saturday in Canada that has interrupted the the flow to the United States. On top of that, propane is one of our leading exports to Europe and maintaining that supply route has only worsened the situation here.
The quintessential question of the day: when will prices go down? At this point there doesn't seem to be any solid speculation when we might see prices as they were last year.
Fortunately, Spring is not too far away.
