Iowa propane prices

Iowa runs on grain drying. In a wet fall, dryers across the corn belt pull propane at a rate residential heating never matches, and that draw lands in October and November, ahead of the heating season proper. Both loads refill by pipeline from the Gulf Coast and from the Conway hub in Kansas. When a wet harvest and an early cold snap stack in the same autumn, Iowa is usually where the strain shows first.

The price above comes from EIA's State Heating Oil and Propane Program, which surveys a sample of retail dealers in Iowa 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 Iowa 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 12.6% of occupied Iowa homes, well above the national middle. That is a large block of homes to keep supplied through a cold January.

Iowa 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.