High cost of heating with propane

**prairiewife** · 01-17-2008, 06:03 PM

I've never had propane before. The delivery man came today to fill our tank for the first time. 200 gallons at $2.14 per gallon!

I told him it seemed high and he said it is very expensive right now. He said most homes use 5 to 7 gallons per day. So if we are at the low end it's still about $11.00 a day to heat our home!

I keep the heat at 62 degrees during the day, but lowered it to 60 after he left.

Anyone else with propane, what are you paying per gallon?

**sdrjeolsen** · 01-17-2008, 06:57 PM

Hey PrairieWife, I'm in Co too, I just got a fill around Christmas and paid 2.34/gal. I about fell over. I was trying to hold out till spring to fill, and even specifically told them when we signed up with them not to come unless I called. They decided since they were in the area to come and fill. arrgh!!! I wasn't happy. I keep it at 55 at night and usually turn it off during the day, but its been cold lately, I have had it at 63 the last 2 days, I just can't get warm at 55. They filled to 80% and I checked yesterday and its at 70% already, I can't wait till spring!! I'm just about out of wood too which has really helped offset the cost. I only paid 1.79 when we filled in June.

**prairiewife** · 01-17-2008, 07:08 PM

Denise:

The delivery man said we are on a route and he will check the propane level and fill if he thinks it needs it when he is in our area. Maybe this is why your tank was filled. He said we can fill out paperwork that states we will check our own tank and call when we want filled. I'm going to talk to my fiance when he gets home tonight about this. It sounds like it might be cheaper for us to fill in the summer when rates are lower.

I can't get warm at 55 either. This morning it was -8 outside, I opened up the curtains for some heat from the sun, but the heater has been coming on all day. We have a programable thermostat, so I'm going to change it to 55 at night and 60 during the day.

**sdrjeolsen** · 01-17-2008, 07:24 PM

I did sign the paperwork to check it myself and call when needed, but he said he heard a cold spell was coming and wanted to make sure we were good....I figure his good intentions cost me a hundred dollars. Oh well. I should have enough to las till late summer...I hope, then a fill will last all winter. And I will remind them again don't come if I don't call.

I figured with a 500 gal tank, each percent = 5 gallons. I've used 10% (80% is the max they fill to allow for expansion)or 50 gallons since Dec 26, 22 days. So....drumroll please......I've averaged 2.27 gal/day for a cost of 5.13/day.

I can't imagine using 7 gal/day...that would be 16.38/day or 500/mo!!! Zoiks!

**TerriLL** · 01-17-2008, 10:11 PM

We pay prepay for out propane in August and by doing that we paid 1.65 a gallon.
Can you do that in your area??

**sdrjeolsen** · 01-17-2008, 11:40 PM

How does that work? I'd be very interested in doing it.

**favesis37** · 01-18-2008, 07:04 AM

when we had it, we could sign a contract that set our price for the year. we had to get a certain amount but it saved money

**prairiewife** · 01-18-2008, 12:37 PM

Kim:
That would be great if we could do this. I will have to call the propane company and find out. Is this limited to a certain amount of gallons for the year or is it good for any amount you need?

My fiance wasn't too surpised last night when I told him we had to pay $2.14/gal. We have about 300 gallons right now and hope to make it last until the spring. I've got the heat down to 60 for the day.

**Tiajean** · 01-18-2008, 01:15 PM

My DH is a propane delivery guy. SDR, if you are on Will Call, they shouldn't have filled you for any reason unless you called. You may want to call and ask for a discount on your fuel for the mistake (man, my DH's customer service rep would hate me if she knew I gave that type of advise LOL).
The pre-pay (or pre-buy they sometimes call it) is usually offered at end of summer to buy a certain amount of propane and lock in to a much better price than usual. You will save a ton of money! Also, the more propane you use the lower your cost should be depending on how your company works it out.

And BTW, the prices that ya'll are getting right now are REALLY good prices. The propane prices here are at 4.099 last time I heard and were getting ready to go up again.

And please don't blame the delivery guys for the prices, payment problems, etc... My DH was actually attacked yesterday by some huge guy while he was locking his tank for non-payment. All my DH is doing is what the CSR tells him to do. Luckily he got out of the situation before it got really bad.
Anyway, enough of that, I'm still really upset about the incident.

**Darlene** · 01-18-2008, 01:52 PM

We only use propane for our hot water heater and a direct vent small heater we have in our former porch/ remodled into an eating area.
Since we don't have a big tank it costs us more per gallon. They came a couple weeks ago & I about freaked when I saw it was $3.98 a gal.

**became4347** · 01-18-2008, 02:10 PM

Denise,

I don't use propane, but I felt your frustration. I would be furious! Is there anyway that YOU can lock it out so that they can not fill it up without your knowledge and consent?

Prairiewife,

Feeling for you, too. Is there anyway you can stay in one room and just heat it with a portable heater? That's what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks and I like it.

**Buckeye5** · 01-18-2008, 03:30 PM

Propane is $3.50 a gallon here. I would have killed for $2.14 a galllon!!

**banana** · 01-18-2008, 04:42 PM

Oh my $3.50 a gallon is outrageous.

**MandaRenee** · 01-18-2008, 04:58 PM

We're paying 2.56 per gallon right now. I'm designating my change jar for propane purchases during the summer to fill our tank while the prices are lower. It always goes up in the winter time.

**momtoadiva** · 01-18-2008, 05:20 PM

We purchase our own tank that allows us to shop around for the lowest prices between companies. Filled 500 gal in Oct for 1.59 other than the furnace nothing else on propane and we are down to 40 percent already. It cost us close to 700.00 to fill it so I know I'm going to be sick when we run out before all is said and done. Unfortunatley we didn't purchase this house until June really had no idea we were even in the market for a house till this one come up to a public auction and Dad knowing I have always wanted a rock house told me about it. Anyhoo with that said it left us out of the prepurchase loop for this year. But come July I will def. be pre purchasing, this is a old house 1930's with orginal windows that leak like a stuck pig. We have been working on it since purchase but unfortunatly we can only take care of things as we have the funds so go figure. Just a lil funny when we did move it I couldn't figure out there was tp and papertowels stuck everywhere...well it didn't take but the first cold spell for me to figure out why. Heidous (sp) as it looks I'm thinking I need to go back around and put it all back in geez.