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The brutally cold winter we’ve had could lead to a fuel crisis next month. Some industry analysts are warning that if the frigid weather continues, people who heat their homes with propane could be left out in the cold. And home owners who heat with natural gas may be paying more on their monthly bill.
Some home owners who heat with propane are paying about double the regular price, and now the federal government is launching an investigation into the propane price hike and supply crisis.
Craig Humphreys of Dunnville says the cost of filling his propane tank went from $161 dollars in the fall to $347. That’s over double the price. He just filled up on Thursday: “Well it almost knocked me on my feet, off my feet, it’s brutal.”
And Craig just has a small five hundred and fifty square foot home to heat: “Out here we don’t have natural gas so the only other alternative is wood. Propane used to be cheaper, now it’s not.”
At Weld Tech Products in Stoney Creek, company President Frank Merolli says the last time there was a crisis in propane supply and price was during the Iraq war, 11 years ago: “How this actually started isn’t just from the cold we’ve had but it started back in the summer when a lot of supply was sold to midwestern farmers they use propane for kill drying their crop so what happened is all that inventory was sold off.”
The Federal Natural Resouces Minister says it’s the provincial government’s responsibility to regulate the price of fuel but Joe Oliver says he is still looking in to the matter: “Were having the National Energy Board Competition Bureau look at the issue of pricing and scarcity.”
Union Gas Hamilton District Manager Mark Emmanuel thinks natural gas users shouldn’t be as worried. They may see an increase of about twelve dollars on their monthly bill: “The only increase that they’ll see on their bills this month is based on the volume they’ve used, not based on the price skyrocketting.”
It’s not just Canada suffering a propane shortage it’s also affecting the United States. But here in Canada, some of the bigger propane suppliers have been rationing deliveries based on urgent needs.
