Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990                   TAG: 9005190491
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PROPANE PRICES DON'T COOL OFF

Winter's record-breaking cold led to retail price increases of up to 75 percent for home-heating fuels. While most prices eventually stabilized in the Roanoke Valley, propane costs remain volatile.

And Harris, who paid $1.91 per gallon for 140 gallons, says consumers are being gouged.

Last year Harris paid 83 cents a gallon from Petrolane Gas Service in Roanoke. He said he expected propane would cost maybe a dime more per gallon this year. He ended up paying $1.08 more per gallon.

Petrolane charges customers based on a customer's yearly volume, said district manager Becky Baker. The more a customer orders, the cheaper the rate.

The price for low-volume residential customers such as Harris is $1.91 per gallon, Baker said.

The price for commercial customers, who use as much as 10,000 gallons annually, would be less depending on the deal each works out with Petrolane, she said.

Highland Propane charges 83.5 to 89 cents a gallon for minimum bulk orders of 500 gallons, said spokesman Bud Farmer. The company does not accept orders of less than 500 gallons.

Farmer said propane prices are seasonal and tend to drop during warmer weather. Highland's price per gallon peaked at about 96 cents in the winter, he said.

Southwestern Virginia Gas Service Corp. in Radford reported prices as high as $1.20 during December's freeze. Its manager could not be reached for comment Friday.

Billy Deitz, manager of Petrolane Gas Service in Clifton Forge, said his company is charging $1.32 a gallon whether the customer orders 25 gallons or 75. Deitz said in some cases delivery charges do apply, but he declined to answer other questions about his rates.

Dan Myers of the National Propane Gas Association said December's "wicked cold snap" caused price increases of up to $1.50 per gallon nationally, but "it is my understanding most prices retreated back dramatically in January."

Retail prices are left up to individual retailers, who consider a variety of factors such as transportation costs in setting their rates, Myers said.

Hal McWilliams, an editor with the trade publication Butane-Propane News, said while it is not unheard of for retailers to base their rates on volume, $1.91 per gallon "would seem" unusually high.

"Most usually charge around the same price for competitive reasons," McWilliams said.

Harris said setting rates based on volume "just doesn't make sense."

Customers buying gas for their cars at a service would pay the same whether they used 10 gallons a week or 50, Harris said.