Propane industry should be regulated

Although I am generally a follower of caveat emptor (buyer beware), I am pretty comfortable saying that the problem I have was not a mistake on the part of the propane distributor I use.

As you probably know, living in a rural neighborhood, propane is the only source of gas. It is common practice to lease your tank from a distributors and, as a result, you can only source propane from them. I wrongly assumed that prices from this distributor would be similar to their competitors. When I called and asked about the current price of propane, unlike the other vendors who quoted me a price, they asked what my account number was and then told me the price.

When I said their price was almost 60 cents more than the going rate, they basically said “oh well.” This is more than a 25 percent premium and borders on being criminal. That is almost $90 a month that I’ve been overcharged. Now I will have to change vendors. I will either lease from another vendor and perhaps go through this again or buy my own tank and shop prices regularly.

This is unacceptable business behavior. I am not generally a fan of government oversight, but I do understand why utilities are regulated. Unfortunately propane I don’t think falls under this category. If this is normal practice for the industry, perhaps it should be regulated.

PAUL OSMUN

Sandpoint