Not good for people heating with propane. Propane is 3.25 here and Oil is 3.85. Glad to have plenty of firewood.
For some commodities, you can track the how the front month and out months are trading. Here's Mt Belvieu propane that trades for delivery in Mt. Belivieu, TX. As you can see, the price is much higher for the close months. http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/ene...eu-propane-5-decimals-swap_quotes_globex.html You can also see the spike in Heating Oil futures here. Shows that there's a near term spike, but longer term stability.. I.E. prices should come back down, or at least that's what the traders think right now. http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/refined-products/heating-oil_quotes_globex.html
My Aunt filled her propane tank. $2700 for 500 gallons. I tried convincing her to heat with wood. Uncle has an excavating business and all sorts of equipment including big Stihl saws for lot clearing work. He'd have no problem getting wood.
Good about your being propane free, but have you seen where your 401k is invested? Sometimes we are tied into things we want nothing to do with.
Shortage is starting to hit here. Local LP company is telling folks there next delivery is going to be $4.30 and they won't get a full load. I have to burn some for DHW and the really nasty cold & windy days. I'm going to call them today and tell them not to bring any more without asking first...they usually just show up. EDIT: Just called them and told them to take me off auto-fill. Price is $4.49. Price has gone up $2.10 since this time last week.
Farmers are taking a beating too...not just residential heat customers. Indiana is about to (basically) outlaw OWBs so farmers don't have a lot of alternatives. Can't dry grain or keep milking barns warm with a wood stove or heat pump.
Propane today is $3.35 and up. Heating oil is $4.10 a gallon. Think they're trying to rip us off? It's always at the beginning of a cold snap that they Jack the price. Heating oil was $3.88 just few days ago.
Radio today was saying that they like to have $28 million gallons of propane in the Midwest at the beginning of season. But due to transportation limitations (they specifically mentioned trains) and exports we were short 5 million gallons at the beginning of the season. Iowa governer (and speed limit breaker) Brandstad is supposedly pressuring the prez to cut some of the red tape preventing us from getting more of the gas here in the Midwest. Doesn't affect me at this point, but work does heat with propane.
Everybody needs to switch to methane....lot's of it available....just watch the static: http://tinyurl.com/ny4hr7t
