In related news, Larry Dreiling of the High Plains Journal(hpj.com) talked with industry leaders on the causes of last years propane shortage. Here's an excerpt.

 

"After one of the longest and coldest winters most people in the northern Plains and Midwest can think of, consumers who use propane are left looking at their larger bills.

Most folks who live on farms and ranches stay warm each winter via propane heat. Propane also is the primary fuel for grain-drying equipment in on-farm storage bins.

Propane industry leaders say most of the events leading to higher prices and spot shortages were unforeseen.

"We were sort of caught off guard following nearly a decade of abnormally warm winters," said Roy Willis, president of an industry promotion group, the Propane Education and Research Council. "We came back with a pretty brutal one that was very cold for a very long time, especially in the upper midsection of the country.

"The irony was that the part of the country that had the least amount of propane storage and is highly dependent on transportation infrastructure."

That infrastructure situation, Willis said, not only affected the Midwest but had a ripple effect throughout the country, with railcars, pipelines and trucking assets maxed out and inadequate capacity to prevent price spikes and regional shortages.

Adding to the problem was the loss of the Kinder Morgan Cochin pipeline, which supplied much of the upper Midwest's propane needs. For years, the pipeline had been underutilized, so it was decided to repurpose the pipeline to move light condensate from Illinois to Saskatchewan, Canada.

It was a bad year to do that. 

While last fall's crop drying period didn't occur at a time of high prices, it depleted regional inventories in the process..."

While most of the industry was "caught off guard", if you remember back a few months, Thrifty Propane was fully prepared. We knew the shortage was coming and we made sure that our customers knew about it well before it happened.

That's why we added to our fleet size to help combat the shortage as well as we hired more staff to make sure your propane was delivered. It's also why we had our fleet travel much farther than normal to get the available propane to you. 

It's projected that a longer and colder than usual winter like last year will happen again in the next three years. That's why we're trying to help you get ready for it. Contact us and lock in to a Pre-Buy or Budget Billing plan. That way you can keep your costs low regardless of the instability of the market.