Propane prices spike in county

SANDERS COUNTY – The rising prices of propane have caused some serious woes this winter. Local propane vendors explained why costs have been so high, how they feel about the situation and what the future may hold.

Debbie Buckingham, district manager of Northern Energy, has never seen propane as expensive as it has been lately.

“We are at about $4 a gallon right now. We were at $5 but it has since come back down,” Buckingham said. “I have worked here for 26 years and never saw it hit $3.”

With the price being $5 a gallon at the peak, many community members and local businesses were affected.

“It is an impact for everybody so it is hurting our customers and businesses,” Buckingham said. “It was not something anybody projected or prepared for.”

According to Buckingham, propane merchants are also upset about the rising prices and the resulting strain on buyers.

She said she watched another propane seller get interviewed about the current crisis and he was literally in tears because of the hardships put on his customers.

Buckingham said many pockets are hurting due to the rising prices of things other than propane.

“I have had people come in pretty upset,” Buckingham said. “I think they are just tired because it is happening everywhere and everything is going up, not just propane.”

Location Manager of Axmen Propane Casey Alt listed several reasons for why prices have increased. The number one reason, according to Alt, is more and more of the U.S. propane stores are being exported.

“We are now exporting more propane than we ever had before to make that profit,” Alt said. “We just don’t have a whole lot in reserves.”

Much of what we do have stored has been shipped out east to farmers who have been dealing with the results of an especially damp spring and summer.

“Grain and crop drying was at an all-time high in the Midwest so the drying dropped our reserves,” Alt said. “They had pretty decent moisture in the spring last year and they always use propane to dry their grain.”

The propane supply had already dropped lower than usual when the brutal cold snap sent the demand sky high. According to Alt, a good deal of propane has been sent out east to combat the negative temperatures.

Those three reasons were enough to make a drastic difference in propane prices. As of now, the prices are beginning to gradually drop back down but Alt wonders if orchard season might cause them to rise once again.

He said if the orchards do well along the West Coast the farmers will use propane to keep the trees from freezing.

“All four of those things this year were unusual which is why it is at an all-time high,” Alt said. “Who knows what will happen next year.”

For now, things are looking up because propane prices are coming back down.

Alt said the propane prices at Axmen Propane have gone down by 16 cents since last week. The hope is that it will be under $3 a gallon by this weekend.