Winter Coming...

[Ideas]

Is everyone ready for the rise in gas pricing.  Every year the city lowers the rate in the spring and then raises it in the winter. Here is an Idea, wow Im good at this.  Change gas service to a public company, rather than a private one and well get a better deal, we could probable save $3 or $4 a unit, or $50 or $60 a month.  Havent we learned yet the things those private companies do like leahman brothers, and bear stearns is wrong.  Why does the city need to rape the people in town making an honest living, they already rape the ones in the process of dying.  What doesn their bank account look like with the funeral home funds?

[jprxmkt]

It's called supply and demand, not rape.

[frawin]

Is everyone ready for the rise in gas pricing.  Every year the city lowers the rate in the spring and then raises it in the winter. Here is an Idea, wow Im good at this.  Change gas service to a public company, rather than a private one and well get a better deal, we could probable save $3 or $4 a unit, or $50 or $60 a month.  Havent we learned yet the things those private companies do like leahman brothers, and bear stearns is wrong.  Why does the city need to rape the people in town making an honest living, they already rape the ones in the process of dying.  What doesn their bank account look like with the funeral home funds?

Natural Gas has always and will always go up in the Winter Months and go down in the summer months. Peak usage is in the Winter Months and in the summer months a large portion of the production is being purchased and goes into storage. The pricing of Natural Gas is a nation wide market fuction, "SUPPLY AND DEMAND" the City has nothing to do with it.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

That is how rural electricity is also, lower in the winter and higher in the summer!!!

[Tobina+1]

Most companies offer a payment plan where they will average your usage over the whole year so that you pay an average rate each month, rather than paying more during the winter and less during the summer.  Electricity and gas alike.  Propane?  You can lock in contract prices and amounts with a lot of companies, too.

[frawin]

Yes, you can hedge your Propane, it can go either way but most likely you are better of to "Lock In". I have done hedges for operators on Natiral Gas and Crude at different times of the year and it is a gamble  no matter what history and data you use to determine what floor and ceiling values to use.

[Tobina+1]

Frank; not sure about hedging and floors and ceilings  , but I know that Tri-Star Propane in Severy sends a letter out each summer allowing you to lock in their contract price for a certain amount of propane.  The contract goes from about Sep 1 to March 1.  You pay 10% down, and when they deliver (can get multiple deliveries), you pay the rest.  I'm sure they do hedging with the company they deal with, though.  I've never actually compared contract price to the market price during that timeframe, though (I forget)... so hopefully I'm doing a smart thing...   

[pepelect]

I have many stupid IDEAS turn up your thermostat.   Better yet turn your gas completely off save your well earned money to pay for the enormous the water bill  next March when the pipes thaw out.

What kind of ill conceived notion is it that the larger and more spread out a company the better your service will be?  How far is it from Independence to Howard?  Would you like to wait for the gas service like we wait for other industries that come from an hour away?

Let's say your perfectly constructed and manicured home developes a small but noticable gas oder.  Who would you call?  911....They would call the gas service company.  They would promply send a moron in a little white truck to check your small gas oder.  If it was a problem two or three hours will have passed by now.  The little leak would be a larger leak.  The guy in the small truck would show up turn on his $3500 gas detection meter.   It would of course go off and the 4 block evacuation would begin.  It is all about the safety.   Three to four hours after that the first wave of back hoes, track loaders and guys with hardhats would desind upon the scene.   The source of the leak would be found and repaired promptly.   12 hours later you would be let back in to your home to find your perfectly manicured lawn shredded, rutted, and oder free. 

Or you could just pay the gas bill, call Tim to repair your gas leak, and spend your money locally instead of building the nestegg of a large comglomerate.

[Jo McDonald]

Amen PEP --- Having been an owner of a LP Gas company for many years - the service you get from your trusted delivery man - and the fact that it is in a radius of a reliable time frame for him to get there and do the valve checks and the line pressure checks - he can have all of that done,and be gone while the "far away" people are still writing down on their pad for the next days service call to be handled.
  The time to run a check on your lines is in the fall - BEFORE the temps drop down to freezing. Then you are finding fault with your supplier, because you have a leak, or think you have because there is an odor  - or maybe your tank is just low ( because you did not pay your bill )  The odor is a safety factor that is added to LP gas.  That reason being, LP gas is heavier than air and goes down and follows the cracks in the ground and can be detected before there is another dangerous outcome.  It is up to the consumer to be aware of these facts - and tend to the safety of your own needs, before the "Bad Stuff" happens.

Local is smart --- Far away is stupid.

[LShortt]

Pep...Once again you've made me grin, chuckle and nod my head in agreement.  One strain of thought(?) that "Ideas" threw into the mix that you "stepped over",  while waiting for that guy in the little white truck to show up to fix the little leak it's a possibility that one might not notice the smell of gas (maybe it is the middle of the night and everyone is asleep).  The next phone call made might be by a neighbor to the local funeral director, but hey just think all the money saved by pooling the gas money would help defer the cost of the funeral?!  I know I've been out of the local loop in recent years, but when did the City go into the funeral business???  Ideas, maybe you can pop over to the nearest Walmart and check out the hardware section (no offense Cookson's) for the newest and finest do-it-yourself funeral kit.