Michigan propane prices

Michigan's propane customers are concentrated in the northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, where the gas mains thin out and winter runs long. Some of the state's supply is stripped out of Enbridge's Line 5 at plants in Rapid River and Kalkaska, which is why a pipeline argument in Michigan is also a propane argument; the rest arrives by pipeline from the south, from Sarnia in Ontario, and by rail and truck. Long supply lines plus heavy rural demand is why Michigan was among the hardest hit states in the shortage of the winter of 2013-14.

The price above comes from EIA's State Heating Oil and Propane Program, which surveys a sample of retail dealers in Michigan once a week and publishes the state average on Wednesday afternoon. It runs October through March only, so nothing new prints between April and September. The second line on the chart is the wholesale price Michigan dealers pay at the rack. What separates the two lines is the cost of getting a gallon into a tank behind a house, which is delivery, tank service and dealer margin together, not margin alone. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey, on five-year estimates, puts propane as the main heating fuel in 8.7% of occupied Michigan homes, well above the national middle. That is a large block of homes to keep supplied through a cold January.

Michigan reports into EIA's Midwest district, so the wider read is Midwest propane prices and the Midwest inventory behind them. Estimate your fill cost with the propane usage calculator, which works from tank size, gauge reading and what the household burns.