As if local residents needed another reason to hunger for spring.
According to local propane vendors, warm weather is the only way to reverse skyrocketing propane costs and allow reserves to build again.
“We’re just basically trying to hang on until the weather warms up,” said Joe Bukowski, owner of Countrystyle Propane of Oconto Falls.
Chad Hodgins, of Stiles, paid less than $2 a gallon in 2013 to fill his tank. Last week, it cost $6.50 a gallon, and he was limited to 100 gallons for the 330-gallon tank that heats his mobile home.
“The price is the killer,” he said. “If I need more fuel in the next month or two, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t come up with that kind of money.”
He’s not alone. The Oconto County Health and Human Services Department is receiving 70 to 80 calls a day requesting energy assistance, according to a department receptionist.
Hodgins said he will try to conserve energy wherever he can.
“With 100 gallons, I’ll really, really have to watch it. It’s going to be hard,” he said. “It’s really, really hard just to stay warm.”
According to Gov. Scott Walker’s office, the shortage in the Midwest is due to a variety of factors: days of extreme cold, a wet fall that caused farmers to use more propane to dry corn, and the shutdown of a pipeline.
Bukowski said the higher profitability of propane exports and the inefficiency of aging pipelines in the U.S. also played a role. Reserves were at 70 percent of the five-year average even before the heating season began, he said.
“We knew we were at risk going into this winter,” Bukowski said.
Countrystyle services more than 3,000 accounts in Marinette, Shawano and Oconto counties.
Walker on Jan. 25 declared a state of emergency due to the propane shortage. He later announced the state will help propane dealers secure loans to purchase gas and will release more money to help low-income propane users. Walker’s office said 250,000 Wisconsin residents rely on propane for heat.
Local propane vendors said their supplies are limited.
“It’s a battle every day,” Bukowski said. “You can have loads scheduled out several days, and all of a sudden they’ll just call you and tell you that they’re out of gas, and you have to start all over and try to find it someplace else.
“It’s tight, but we’ve got plenty for our existing customers and enough to take on 50 (new accounts),” said Pat Flynn, owner of Flynn Oil Co. and Propane of Gillett. “We just can’t fill everybody up, but nobody wants to be filled at these prices.”
The price was $5.25 a gallon on Friday when Flynn was out on his route, which covers a 40-mile circle in Marinette and Oconto counties. Residents were limited to 150 gallons of propane per fill-up; businesses 200 to 250 gallons.
“We’re just trying to be on the safe side,” Flynn said of the restrictions.
According to Flynn, no customers ran out of propane.
“We had a lot of new ones that were really low, and we managed to get there in time,” he said.
Countrystyle is limiting fill-ups to 200 gallons, and customers must be down to 20 percent full before they receive more propane.
“You can only get so much in, and you want to keep everybody warm,” Bukowski said.
According to Bukowski, it was business as usual until Jan. 23, when some orders were cancelled and, within a short time, prices skyrocketed.
“I had some loads booked, but when they doubled the price on me, I just couldn’t pay that, so I had to cancel those loads and hopefully weather it out until the price came back down,” Bukowski said.
He said it will take months for prices to moderate. He expected demand to remain high in the spring and summer because tanks were only partially filled over the winter, and vendors will need time to get tanks to full capacity again.
He said nervous customers are bombarding his staff with questions about what’s happening.
“Our phones, they never stop ringing,” he said.
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