Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The propane confusion

Ok, I think I have this propane account figured out.  The "Prepay Cap Contact" is an option I can choose, rather than the "auto-fill" option I am currently on. The Prepay cap contract states it is is for pre-purchasing your Winter propane (by August 31) and is for delivery between October 1st and March 31st (at a rate of $1.55/gal). Well, I just filled up my tank (at auto fill/low summer rate of $1.19/gal) and this will last me well past those winter months. I shouldn't need to get filled again until sometime next summer. I have already paid for my "winter" propane when I paid the bill that they gave me on the fill up a couple of weeks ago. The tank got filled last August, shortly before we moved in and lasted a year (we still had 30% and this would stay at that until we start turning the heat on - which isn't anytime this summer, that's for sure)

I see no need to sign up for this Prepay Cap contract and send them another $310 to just have sitting on my account as a credit for the next year.  If no gallons (or the 200 gallons they want me to pre-pay) are filled between Oct and next March, then I just end up with a credit on my account to be used later.  Whew! I'm glad I figured this out and didn't send $310! I was able to set up a login online to my account (it's a very low-tech website LOL) and see that it shows my balance owing on account as zero, so that also tells me this "contract" is just an option type of billing. They also have monthly budget billing. I would imagine many customers probably can't pay for a full years propane at one time, so they have these different options available. I know our renter neighbors had them come during the winter and add propane.

My free gift from those promo points through work arrived yesterday.  Looks like a nice dart board in a solid wood case. I also had about 400 points left, after choosing that, so I used them up to get some leftover containers, as I'm getting very low (don't know how they seem to disappear over the years) and that arrived too.

This weather just won't quit and the nearby wildfire just keeps getting larger and larger. Smoky air, too. There are about 50 homes in the area of the fire that are on alert to possibly evacuate. They didn't put out the fire right away because "they thought it was remote and wouldn't cause any problems". Well,  now it's like 2500 acres and ya..ya think?! of course it's a huge deal now. I don't get the thinking on it all. There are now over 300 people involved with dealing with it. In 9 days it has cost over 3 million dollars to fight this fire and they say they won't get it out, it will burn until the end of fire season now. Why not put it out when it was 3 acres and use that f-ing $3 million dollars for some other much needed things this county needs.

My DD cracks me up. She was apparently texting me last evening while I was outside watering my flowers. I get back inside to the first text is a picture of her (white!LOL) legs with a bunch of bug bites that she got over the weekend doing yardwork. Then a text asking me if she should be concerned with how red a few of them, close together, look. Then another text about them itching. Then another text "helloo??!! MomMD - what if I'm dying here and you aren't answering me?!"  I told her to put itch cream on them (she has been), take some benadryl, if she has time to sleep for awhile and maybe try a cold wash cloth to maybe help with the redness. Then I texted back "oh ya, you don't have any washcloths" (that drove me nuts when I've stayed with her) and she replied back "you bought me some last time you were here, remember?!" LOL

They are having some house guests for a week. They got to be good friends with the 2 girls who lived in the apartment next to them, when she was going to school. The girls just bought a house, but it won't close until mid-August and they don't want to pay another month's rent, so they are staying at DD's place next week, then house sitting somewhere for a week, and then a few more days back at DD's until their can move into their house.

She's also applied for a job with the (huge) company her boyfriend works for. Some kind of analyst position. She still hasn't gotten a raise yet and when she asked about it again, she was told it would be on her mid-August check, but her boss doesn't know how much. She did up her resume again and had me proof read it. I told her if I ever need a resume (knock on wood I do NOT) she's going to do it for me. Her resume was really good. Her BF showed it to his boss (who's been with the company like 30 years) and he was so impressed with her resume he said he'd hire her and told him to tell DD she could use him as a reference.  BF, based on the job "level" said it should be a $50-$60k a year job, so it would be a good salary increase for her. Hopefully she at least gets an interview, but if not, she's now got her resume all updated and can start applying for better jobs, as she sees them.

6 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to figure out the propane puzzle. That is great that you can make a tank last that long!

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    1. Probably because our house is so small, LOL, and the house seems to be insulated well.

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  2. The only thing I have heard about propane refill was that a refill in summer is cheaper. A refill on demand was more expensive. That does not seem to be your case.

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    1. it is cheaper in the summer. We only paid $1.19/gal. I think many can't buy a whole years worth of propane at once, so they have different options to try to help people save. So, apparently, if you think you'll have to fill up in the winter months you can pre-buy it now at what is probably a lower rate. They also offer an "auto refill" plan - where they monitor your tank balance and fill up when it's convenient for them, which they say saves about .10 cents a gallon. That is the plan we are on and we had to have a credit check approved in order to qualify for that type of account.

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    2. Ah, I see. How large is your tank? Is your kitchen stove and water heater gas?

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    3. it's 500 gallons and no, only our heat is propane, everything else is electric.

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