Propane price jump squeezing rural residents

By Cindy Sams The Macon Telegraph Feel the temperatures dip below freezing on these cold midwinter nights. Watch as May Sims' monthly propane bills rise - faster than the mercury can fall.

"The cost has gone up tremendously," said Sims, who heats her rural Twiggs County home with propane, a mixture of natural gas and crude oil. "With the high propane prices now, we have to wait until the tank is real low before we call and order more."

Sims is not alone in her anxiety. Propane prices in the midstate began rising around Thanksgiving and within two months have nearly doubled - in some places running as much as $1.90 per gallon.

For rural families who rely upon propane for heating and cooking, the costs can be staggering. For example, Sims paid about $140 for 100 gallons of gas in November. The price rose to $160 in December - and jumped to $200 earlier this week for the same amount of fuel.

"I don't know what it will be next month," Sims said. "To come up with $200 by 10 o'clock on Monday morning, I don't know about other people, but for me and my husband, that's hard to do."

Consumers blame spiraling propane costs on local distributors. Propane distributors pass the blame on to wholesalers. In short, industry watchers say, high propane prices are directly related to the rising cost of natural gas.

"Propane is more or less a 50-50 mix (of crude oil and natural gas), so our costs are closely tied to those two products," said Paul Ladner, the Southeast regional sales manager for Amerigas in Atlanta, which has local offices in Warner Robins.

Whatever the reason, the price increases have customers shouting.

"I'm getting a good many complaints," said Terry Watson, branch manager of ProAm Propane in Gray. "They just say it's a rip-off."

The price Watson charges now for propane runs about $2 per gallon. That's more than twice the 75-cent-per-gallon charge customers normally would expect to pay this time of year, he said.

The price increases are "mostly coming off the pipeline," Watson said. "It's the wholesalers; they're raising prices. It's just supply and demand and cold weather."

Watson declined to divulge the price he pays for propane from his wholesaler in Milan. But the branch manager contends he is not taking unfair advantage of his customers.

"We're just passing along what it's costing us," he said. "I'm not raising my percentage margin. I'm staying within the margin ... It's not as big a profit as everybody thinks."

Ricky Lister, a Jones County resident who uses propane, said the high prices are especially hard on the elderly. Lister helps care for two elderly aunts, whose recent propane bill for a couple hundred gallons was more than $400.

"Propane's really hurting us," said Lister, who recently installed a wood-burning stove as a supplemental heat source. "What I see is, these folks on fixed incomes, it's killing them. There ought to be something in place to help them."

Sims and her husband are trying to cut back on their propane bills by only heating rooms they use the most. Sims said she also has stopped heating her bedroom at night, opting instead to don thermal underwear and wrap up in warm covers.

"When we get up in the night, we run to the bathroom, run back to bed and jump under the covers," she said.

To contact Cindy Sams, call 744-4229 or e-mail csams@macontel.com.

http://web.philly.com/content/macon/2001/01/27/biz/propane.htm?template=aprint.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 28, 2001

Answers

I have two large propane tanks. I was hoping
that I could hold out until the price comes
down but that may be a pipe dream. gas pipe
that is ::::-§

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), January 28, 2001.