Tim Voigt of Custom Heating and Cooling Talks Propane Shortage, Part 1
Monday, January 27th, 2014 -- 9:10 AM
-As the long and harsh winter continues to tighten its icy grip on Central Wisconsin, many residents are facing not only higher priced propane, but a shortage as well.Tim Voigt, owner of Custom Heating and Cooling in Neillsville, talked about what caused the current shortage.
Tim said, "To the best of my knowledge, and of course everybody has different reasons for it, but the typical reason is because this year we had a late harvest of corn and with the early Spring and the rain and how wet it was, there was a lot of corn drying gas going out. Unusually cold weather early and it's just lasting and there was just no chance to build supply. To my knowledge that's the best way to put it. They just can't get the LP fast enough to serve customers."
Mr. Voigt also explained the normal price of propane in the Winter and for those on a pre-buy schedule, you?re out of luck.
Tim continued, "In a normal Winter, the liquid propane price right now would be around, I'm going to say anywhere from $1.69 to possibly $1.89. A lot of people pre-buy. Right now they are not honoring contracts of pre-buy because there is such a shortage of distribution. And we are looking at paying the "rack" price is what they call it. So, even under contract there's a lot of companies, most companies and I believe all, that cannot get product other than from "rack."
Gov. Scott Walker has declared a State of Emergency in the wake of the extreme cold and propane shortage. He will be gathering stakeholders today to discuss the shortage and he?ll deliver remarks at the capitol after.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.