Written on: January 18, 2023
Recently Trending in Propane spoke with 40-year Industry Veteran Randy Doyle, a long-time executive with Blossman Gas (North Carolina) and a consultant to Holtzman Propane (Virginia) about the cost of propane vs. electric.
Doyle shared data he has collected from 1995 to 2020 based on National averages.
Assumptions:
Electricity kwh and propane/gallon national avg residential price data source: EIA
Electricity’s propane price equivalent applied factor of 25
Electricity cost equivalent to 500 gallons propane = 45.7 million btu (500*91,500) divided by 3,412 times price per kwh
1995 RATE/kwh=$.0840 Propane equiv=$2.10 Avg propane/gal=$o.89 difference=$(1.21) LP%electricity=42% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$681
2000 RATE/Kwh=$.0824 Propane equiv=$2.06 Avg propane/gal=$1.25 difference=$(0.81) LP%electricity=61% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$480
2005 RATE/Kwh=$.0945 Propane equiv=$2.36 Avg propane/gal=$1.85 difference=$(0.51)
LP%electricity=78% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$342
2010 RATE/Kwh=$.1154 Propane equiv=$2.89 Avg propane/gal=$2.47 difference=$(0.42)
LP%electricity=86% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$312
2015 RATE/Kwh=$.1245 Propane equiv=$3.11 Avg propane/gal=$2.15 difference=$(0.96)
LP%electricity=69% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$594
2020 RATE/Kwh=$.1355 Propane equiv=$3.39 Avg propane/gal=$1.91 difference=$(1.48)
LP%electricity=56% Savings with 500 gallons of LP=$862
“The story of propane’s consistent better value versus electricity on a Btu basis is not told well enough to consumers by retail propane marketers,” Doyle said. “Propane’s value versus electricity is the best it has been since 1995. This type of data for a marketer’s region is valuable to have for when customers complain the price of propane is too high.” Doyle believes the industry can do a better job of training employees on this information and how to share it with customers, companies can do a better job of sharing the data proactively with customers, and building partnerships with builders and others in the community is critical to a broader understanding of propane’s benefits.
