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?
It's called supply and demand, not rape.
Quote from: Ideas on September 29, 2008, 12:06:33 AM
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.
That is how rural electricity is also, lower in the winter and higher in the summer!!!
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.
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.
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... ;D
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.
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.
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.
For some reason you skipped over the part about the Smoke detectors and Carbon Monoxide detectors that are sold in any and especially at Cooksons.
We have a great new funeral home and what better way to Darwin out the lesser of the species? Can't let that building sit while you kill your self driving to the Damn W store. How much carbon credits do they buy a year so you can drive to them?
I feel I need to jump in here on this one. I purchased this home 3 years ago. Last winter as I walked down the hall one morning I thought I smelled gas. Really didn't pay much attention to it, but smelled it again next trip down the hall. I went to Batson's to do some shopping later in the day and upon returning to the closed up house house I really smelled gas on entering. I immediately called the city office to see if they had put some of that smelly stuff in the lines to ck for leaks. Within 2 minutes time the city worker was here with his meter, found the leak in the basement, I called Marvin and he told me to go to Cookson's and what to get and by the time I got back Marvin was in here. Meantime, of course, the gas had to be turned off at the meter. It turned out to be a connection on a line that wasn't even being used. Something left by the previous owners, I suppose. I was told at that time that "natural" gas has no odor which is why I hadn't smelled it before, but they guessed that it had just started leaking and the stinky stuff warned me. Problem taken care of and gas turned back on. "Local" help to detect the leak, and no chopped up lawn and no frozen pipes waiting for someone else from out of town. My point is, about being asleep and not being able to smell the leaking gas. AGAIN, NATURAL GAS HAS NO ODOR.
Propane doesn't have a smell either, but they put something in it to make it smell. It's very easy to find your own leak as we've had one. Just take a bottle of very soapy water and spray all your joints. Where the leak is will cause all kinds of bubbles. It's not hard to fix if you know a minimum of plumbing skills. One thing about propane is it will stay on the floor, but builds up over time if the leak is not fixed, but any woman even with a little know how, should know how to fix a propane leak. :)
Propane smells like a sewer leak...
Just awful smell..
Propane can blow the hell out of things also. You can lose your whole town and good people. Believe me, it isn't a pretty sight.
yep, you're right, any woman should know how to fix a leak. I've been fixing them since I was old enough to hold a pipe wrench however when you have to trace a gas leak up through and into the floor and wall, I'm not gonna mess with gas. I'll let someone who knows more about it, thank you. Fix a water leak or busted pipe, no problem. Need an electrical outlet changed, no problem, gas is for the experts, especially when you live alone, and it doesn't always smell like propane does.
Correction: Any woman can "detect" a propane leak - or natural gas leak - But believe me You can't FIX them all. Heed the warnings --- let someone with that kind of experience do that job for you. Use your soapy water, but let it stop there and call an experienced repair man. LP and Natural gas is nothing to mess with.
Jo, you are so right. Thanks for the timely observations...as it's getting to be that time of year again! ;D
Ahem...As I clear my throat and step up on my annual soap box. Fire Prevention Week starts Sunday. This year's national theme is "Prevent Home Fires," so your comments on gas are very timely. Mercaptan, a sulphur product, is what is added to gas so it can be smelled. Check out your smoke detectors, feed 'em fresh batteries by Nov.1, if they are needed and consider a CO detector if you don't have one. Check for frayed wires, clogged or dirty chimneys, and if you use alternative heating sources, such as wood or kerosene stoves be sure to have at least 3 ft, of space around them for safety. Has anything changed since the last heating season? New pets or new babies or new lamps or furniture? Take a good look around and check things out before cold weather. Be sure you have an exit plan and know how you would get out of where ever you are. Have a meeting place picked outside so you know everyone got out, and never go back in until the fire company tells you it is safe.
Diane, this is a silly question. But here goes, we added a new cat to the family. She stays in the house and is into everything. What special things do we need to do to protect her from setting things on fire? We heat with the new vent less propane heaters, and also with an outside wood burning stove. You have such knowledge on these things, could you help me?
Jo thank you for your very intelligent statement. I shall never forget what a propane explosion in Latham done.
Angie, not a silly question at all. The main danger for cats tends to be that they may knock over candles and such. If something is dangerous for a baby, it's not safe for a cat either. Be sure you you don't leave candles and cooking unattended. When you start using your heater on a regular basis, see how your cat reacts to it. If she wants to curl up near it, don't be surprised, as cats love warm places. Hopefully she'll know if she's too warm and move away rather than burn herself.
Thanks Diane!! ;) I noticed with the weather getting cooler she is much happier cuddling up on my lap. I sat up with her last night and took a little "Cat" nap with her!!! :laugh:
Angie, how do you like your ventless heater? We have a friend who had one and had problems with too much humidity in the house when they were using it. I had never heard of that before.
I just thought of something else --- If you have an outside flue - vent or whatever, check to make sure that the mud dobber - wasps - bees - or other flying insects have not built a winter nest in there. That can cause ALL KINDS of problems. If you see any of the flying insect go up under the siding - or disappear from you sight - you better check to see if they have already established a winter home, where you do not want them.
We really like them. The only problem we have is that the girls run around them and seem to stir up the dust and it makes the lighter thing hard to stay on. Or the wind that they create from running seems to blow them out. But my husband blows them out a couple of times in the winter and they do go.