Buying Propane: Give Yourself a $.67-$1.07 an Hour Raise Tax Free!

Some of us live in the country and need to buy propane for the cold season. There are a few ways that I know of to buy propane. One is summer fill. That is the least expensive buy. Then there is pre-buying, That is when you buy propane before the cold season starts but it is not put into your tank until later on. Then there is buying when you need it. Of course, buying on the spur of the moment when you notice you are about out of propane is the most expensive way to buy. Also, buying is less if you own your own tank than rent one from the propane company.

We do summer fill and pre-buy. We have two tanks, one that we own and the other is rented. When we first moved here, we had the one rented tank. That tank is 500 gallons. If we summer fill on 500 gallons we will run out before the year is over. My husband bought this second 500 gallon tank used (on craigslist) and had the gas company come out and make it so we could use both tanks. 1000 gallons is almost enough to make it through a winter here and might be if it were mild but for a very cold winter, it isn't enough.

Here, summer fill is $1.44 a gallon if you own the tank and pay in cash or check (.05 gallon more if you pay by credit card). Summer fill is $1.49 a gallon for a leased tank and pre-bought gallons are $1.69. With all things considered 1030 gallons for us (summer fill and pre-buy) is $1577.95. Okay, that's quite a hunk all at once. But let's look and see what it would be if we paid for it all in last year's peak prices.

Here is a link to some 2013 numbers:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_epllpa_prs_dpgal_w.htm

I live in Wisconsin and it is showing $3.69 a gallon for last year on Feb 14th. $3.69 x 1030 gallons during peak at that time would have been $3800.70. Of course no one buys all the gas at peak so let's average it out to $2.89 a gallon (yes, I pulled that figure out of no where. :)) $2.89 x 1030 is $2976.70. So buying a summer fill and prepay we are saving somewhere between $1398.75 and $2222.75. So, if $1577.95 sounds like a big hunk, it's really not comparatively speaking for gas we are going to buy anyway.

That's a $.67- $1.07 an hour raise for a person that works 40 hours a week for the year. Tax free!