Propane suppliers skimping when refilling tanks
Backyard grillers may get a little steamed this holiday weekend when exchanging their propane tanks for prefilled ones: They will be getting less fuel for their money than last Memorial Day.
When oil prices soared in 2008, propane suppliers quietly reduced by 2 pounds the amount of gas pumped into each 20-pound tank, saying they wanted to avoid raising prices.
Since then, propane prices have been cut in half as the price of oil has dropped. But smaller pre-filled replacement amounts are still being sold nationwide by many dealers, and most buyers are unaware because the tank is the same size.
“Just like the price of food,“ lamented Michael Haley, 42, of Cheektowaga, who exchanges his Blue Rhino at a Noco gas station in his neighborhood. “I consider it unfair, and it’s price gouging.”
Indeed, other industries have adopted similar practices in the packaging of coffee, sugar and laundry detergent.
The problem, consumers say, is that no one tells them they’re getting less propane.
“You’d have no way of knowing that,” said Coni Majchrowicz, 32, of South Buffalo, whose family uses a gas grill. But they don’t get their tanks exchanged. They take the tank that came with their grill to a store to get it refilled.
It appears that stores that fill owner’s tanks aren’t participating in the trend of providing less, although the businesses did raise their prices during the fuel price hike.
For the past year, tank exchanges at retail stores have generally cost $20 to $25. Consumers who refill their existing tanks pay $17 to $20.
Until last year, Blue Rhino and Amerigas, two major suppliers, put 17 to 18 pounds of propane in each 20-pound tank. Tanks should not be filled completely for safety reasons.
About a year ago, that amount was cut to 15 pounds to save consumers a price hike, Blue Rhino spokesman Chris Hartley said.
“There are a number of companies in different industries across the country addressing product packaging, just because of the soaring costs,” he said.
Last year, all energy costs increased sharply, as did the price of steel used in tanks. Crude prices soared past $100 per barrel at the start of 2008 and climbed toward $150 by July. Propane futures hit $1.95 per gallon in the same month.
Those prices have all fallen this year, which would suggest bigger profits for propane distributors.
Hartley would not say if there were plans to return propane refills to the same levels as before the 2008 price spikes, but he did say that energy markets remain volatile.
In the last year, propane futures on the New York Mercantile exchange have dropped from about $1.73 per gallon to just above 71 cents. They have climbed 11 cents since January.
Retailers who offer propane say they have not increased the volume of fuel in each tank because propane companies have not reduced prices.
Home Depot, which offers propane refills, said cutting the amount of propane in 20- pound tanks was an industry-wide measure.
There have been no customer complaints, spokeswoman Jean Niemi said.
On the other hand, smaller independent stores that offer to fill up customers’ own tanks, rather than do exchanges, appear to have continued to give the same amount of propane. Their prices went up last year, but they have since come back down, just like gasoline prices.
Matt Wright, manager of Pool Mart on Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda, said his store has never changed the amount of propane it sold to customers.
“When someone brings a propane tank, we measure it off. There’s a weight on the tank. Everything is done by weight.”
He said that tanks are designed to shut off automatically when they reach 80 percent capacity for fuel and that level hasn’t been adjusted according to the price of propane.
Last summer, Wright said Pool Mart charged $24 per fill up of propane. Now, it charges $20.
Josh Wypij, 25, of East Aurora was glad to hear that his tank refills aren’t part of the reduced propane trend.
“They’re ripping you off, man,” he said of the tank exchanges. “Just like the government.”
Majchrowicz, of South Buffalo, agreed.
“That’s awful,” she said. “You’d have no way of knowing this.”
But Chris Kwacz, 32, who lives on the city’s West Side, said he is not terribly upset, even though he sometimes will exchange his propane tank.
“I only do it once a year so a few dollars here or there doesn’t affect me,” he said. “There are other things that outrage me. . . . Gas grill propane prices don’t really matter.”
News Staff Reporter Maki Becker contributed to this report. mbecker@buffnews.com
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