Gas prices and availability....

Some places around here went up like $0.40 overnight. Where gas was $2.50 at the beginning of the week or so it is now $3.29 or so. If I ship anything I am going to a flatrate price of $300 just in case. One thing I read yesterday was that prices were going to rise regardless of the storm, apparently inventories were dropping steadily long before and prices were already going to start going up.

One thing I fear worse than gas prices is home heating oil and natural gas prices. I paid $1.09/gal for home heating oil 2 years ago, then $2.09 at the end of last winter......where will it be in a month or two when I need to top off my nearly empty 250 gallon barrel? I usually use about 1.5 barrels per year.

Just reading an article now on the shortages and thought this was funny, guy is gonna talk to his gas:

"I'm sure it will be taken care of in a couple of weeks, but I'm not taking any trips," said Scapecchi, vowing to converse gas and avoid going anywhere over the Labor Day weekend.

Originally Posted by Jim O

While prices have risen here, there does not appear to be a shortage of supply yet. My wife filled her tank yesterday. There was a bit of a line but that was because people were there "topping off". Once at the pump there was no limit as to how much she could buy (she pumped 20+ gallons to fill her tank). Regular was $2.80 and premium $2.95 (I'm sure those numbers are higher today). Diesel now costs less here than regular gasoline.

Today regular here is $3.10 and premium $3.25 and some stations were out of regular, most likely due to hoarding.

Originally Posted by DragonCharm

One thing I fear worse than gas prices is home heating oil and natural gas prices. I paid $1.09/gal for home heating oil 2 years ago, then $2.09 at the end of last winter......where will it be in a month or two when I need to top off my nearly empty 250 gallon barrel? I usually use about 1.5 barrels per year.

The lucky (smart) ones locked in their rates early enough to make out like bandits (around here, you can lock in a price via contract as early as spring...it's a gamble, and sometimes people lose hard. sometimes not. do they do that other places)

the station that was $3.10 yesterday, is now $3.20...but one a couple blocks away was $3.50. guess where the line was

Herbie Howard, who owns four stations in Toledo, Ohio, and supplies gas to 17 others, spent hours on the phone hunting a decent price from his suppliers. He had to pay $3.18 a gallon -- 9 cents more than he was selling it for.

"We aren't making any money," he said. "We're just minimizing our loses, but no one believes you. They think we're price gouging."

At one of the few stations open in Charlotte Wednesday night, Steve Clifford, 48, pumped fuel into his Isuzu sport utility vehicle.

"I heard it was going to go up to $4 a gallon tomorrow and there were going to be shortages, so when I got home from work I kissed my wife goodbye and said I was going out to find gas," he said.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

The lucky (smart) ones locked in their rates early enough to make out like bandits (around here, you can lock in a price via contract as early as spring...it's a gamble, and sometimes people lose hard. sometimes not. do they do that other places)

We used to do that when I lived in Massachusetts. Around here very few people use diesel to heat their homes. The folks that use natural gas will be paying through the nose. Electric resistance heat and heat pumps seem to be quite a bit more common in this area.

Didn't have time to read all of the post, sorry

But our regular unleaded is $3.25 and there are several gas stations here out of gas and they say they will not have more til next week. I filled up yesterday at about 3pm and by 6pm that station was completely out of gas. The one across the street was out on 8 or the 12 pumps this am when I took Cody to schooland was completely out when I just came home.

There are a few within 10 miles and I called 3 of them and they all said they would be out by dark today and not have more til next week at the best.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

The lucky (smart) ones locked in their rates early enough to make out like bandits (around here, you can lock in a price via contract as early as spring...it's a gamble, and sometimes people lose hard. sometimes not. do they do that other places)

I was waiting for the prices to drop a little more, they really haven't come below $2/gal yet up here that I know of. Oops.....should have picked it up at $2 like I was stealing it.....because at this point I practially would be. Who would have thunk $2 would be a *cheap* price for it. Gone are the days of under $1/gal......and that was only a few years ago. *cries*

Up here natural gas is rediculous expensive to heat with, my mom almost shot herself last year (first winter in a natural gas heated home). Electric is just as bad, especially with electric jumping about $0.03-0.04/kWh up here in the past year......it was an expensive method prior. Down there you have a lot less heating to do, must be nice during the winter to only have to heat the house a little. Fighting with subzero temps in a drafty old house is fun.

We contracted our LP about 2 months ago, we got 1100 gallons locked in at $1.24 a gallon....I think we're gonna come out good on that! At least we know we'll stay warm over the winter and not go broke doing it. I don't think we even used 1100 gallons in the last year, but better to have more than we need than to end up paying twice the price in January.....or freeze in the lovely Iowa winter.

Gas is $3.09 here for the cheap stuff, and said to be going up by at least .50 by the time the weekend is over........anyone know how to turn a pony cart into a sleigh??? I might need it come winter............

This afternoon gas here was:
$3.25 for 87
$3.35 for 89
$3.45 for 93

Except for a 1 mile round trip to the lumber store, my truck hasn't moved in a week. The car gets 30-38mpg, but I think it's about time I find a new battery for the moped. lol ... that thing can go 125-150 miles on 2.0 gallons of gas! (too bad it can't keep up on the beltline or carry lumber...)

Home energy prices have gone up a lot in the last two years here too. My latest gas & electric bill was just over $400! AHHHH!

When a gallon of gas costs more than a pack of cigarettes, you know we've got problems