I hope you’ve been enjoying your summer. I was invited by Uncle Sam to spend two and a half weeks at beautiful Ft. McCoy in July. Not really my idea of a vacation but it was a nice change of pace. It certainly made choosing what to wear to work each day a lot easier. I think I enjoy wearing camouflage because of the slimming effect. Speaking of slim, national propane inventories are still well below the 5 year average. Prices have continued to strengthen since my last update. Based on U.S. propane production numbers and the strength of exports, I don’t believe we’ll see inventories improve and propane prices drop any time soon. If you haven’t locked in your propane price yet, you can still get it done but prices will be higher. Higher energy prices seem to be the norm lately. As I write this, crude oil is bouncing around above $70 per barrel and diesel and gasoline prices are over $3 per gallon. If you’re looking to cut your transportation costs, I’ve got the answer. Propane. I just passed another milestone by saving over $10,000 in fuel costs on my F150 in a little over 130,000 miles. If you think propane autogas is not a viable alternative to gasoline, think again. There are currently 16 million autogas vehicles in the world and about 150,000 in the United States. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it. Propane autogas is economical, as you can see by my savings in the previous paragraph. On average, propane costs $1 less per gallon than gasoline. It’s also clean, with fewer emissions than gasoline, diesel fuel or other alternatives. Propane boils at -44°F so it boils off instead of contaminating groundwater when exposed to air. Propane is also a very safe vehicle fuel. Autogas vehicle tanks are 20 times more puncture resistant than conventional plastic gasoline tanks. We have public refuelers in Bloomington, Viroqua, Dodgeville and Mt. Horeb. The beauty of autogas systems is that most can run on gasoline as well so you’re not tethered by your propane supply if you take your vehicle on a long trip. It can really extend the range on your vehicle also. A couple of years ago I drove my F150 all the way from Ridgeway, WI to Sturgis, SD without refueling. I ran the truck on propane first and it automatically switched to gasoline when the propane ran out. There is also no change in performance if that is a concern. Conversion units cost about $5,800 installed but there are $4,500 in incentive rebates available. Give us a call if you’d like to learn more. The water heater rebate program is still available. You may qualify for a $200 rebate by installing a new propane water heater. Call your local Premier energy office to learn more. Enjoy the month of August and you’ll hear from me next month. Thank you for your business.
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