Here & Now

Propane Shortage in State Hits Rural Homes

Zac Schultz:

A week ago the governor declared a state of emergency because of a shortage of propane in the midst of brutally cold winter. When the president landed in Wisconsin Thursday, he announced the federal government would provide an additional $14 million for energy assistance for low-income families. More than 250,000 homes heat with propane in Wisconsin, mostly in rural areas. Frederica Freyberg went north this week, where temperatures hit nearly 50 below zero to get a sense of the crisis.

Frederica Freyberg:

One thing that’s not optional when the brutal cold hits is heat inside your home. And many homes in rural Wisconsin heat with propane, gas that fills those outdoor tanks dotting the landscape. Phillips in Price County is prime propane country, and now a growing number of people with fixed or low incomes have turned to St. Vincent dePaul here for help paying for their heat.

Rick Oliphant:

Last year, I think at this time, just the average, I think it was like $1.50, $1.55 a gallon. Right now I think, we’re sitting at $5.50 a gallon. So somebody, you know, 200 gallons of fuel, they’re talking about over $1,000. People just can’t afford that right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rick Oliphant says sales from the store allows for charity needed in times like this.

Rick Oliphant:

They got to heat their house. They can't not heat their house.

Frederica Freyberg:

Are some people foregoing food and other things?

Rick Oliphant:

I haven’t heard of that. And we run a food pantry also. And there has been a drastic increase in those we serve at the food pantry. So it might have something to do with the situation of heating also.

Frederica Freyberg:

At a mid-sized propane dealer in Medford the manager says supplies are so tight right now it keeps him up at night worrying whether he’ll be able to fill customers through the winter.

Leon Weber:

The problem is now they’re sending trucks as far south as Mount Bellville, Texas, the gulf hub. Yesterday I’d gotten an email that there were 158 trucks in line and it was a 24-hour wait to get loaded. So, you know, it just keeps expanding.

Frederica Freyberg:

Leon Weber says he’s still got supply, but he’s limiting how much people can buy and asks customers to turn down the thermostat and try to conserve. He pins the shortage and the resulting price spike on the fact that most of the supply is being sold overseas for top dollar.

Leon Weber:

Probably the biggest thing would be if the exports that, if there are still any going out, if that could be restricted and kept at home. Because the storage caverns are on their bottom, basically. We need anything that’s being produced to stay locally.

Zac Schultz:

The state has set up a hotline for people in need of fuel or in need of answers in the cold weeks to come. It’s 1-866-HEATWIS or 1-866-432-8947.