This week here in town, the price of gasoline is $1.11. Suppose to be one of the lowest prices around. This house we're living in has natural gas heat, which I'm not familiar with the price of. We had a wood stove and a heat pump in Tennessee, but I remember reading last winter, the high price of natural gas everywhere. So my question is....does the price of gasoline correspond with the price of natural gas? I know it's summer, but, Dave and I are thinking about saving to put in a wood stove for these Indiana winters, if natural gas is sky high.

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), July 22, 2001

Answers

Hi, I too am from Indiana and we are total natural gas , Furnance, stove, dryer, water heater...Put it this way. We are putting in an outside wood burning furnace and I am building a solar water heater. I am from Petersburg (south west) where are you from

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), July 22, 2001.

Gasoline here in Cen. Fla is down to 129.9....

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), July 22, 2001.

WOW, two more Hoosiers here. Where in Indiana might you guys be? I'm in Fort Wayne.

Annie, while those prices don't move in lock step the do tend to move in concert. Your $1.11 sounds pretty cheap

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), July 23, 2001.

Our regular unleaded has dropped to $1.19 at the smaller franchises. As far as natural goes, its better to fill your tanks or buy options during summer months if you gas company allows when its cheaper.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 23, 2001.

Annie, good question. While all energy prices tend to move in the same general direction, there isn't any *direct* link between gasoline and natural gas prices. What you might see, for instance, is a situation where manufacturers or generating plants can use several different fuels -- natgas, fuel oi, etc. -- and they move back and forth depending on prices. Those movements affect demand, which affects prices. Also, if more petroleum is going into producing heating oil, less is going into gasoline, so prices tend to go up. That's a cyclical movement, happens every year. Right now refineries are devoting most of their production to gasoline -- summer being peak travel time -- and prices are low. In a month or so, the refineries will switch to heating oil, and gasoline will rise. That said, natgas production in North America has not been meeting demand for the past couple of years. That problem has more to do with the fact that new power generating plants are almost all using natgas for fuel and sucking up both new production. We in the US have been relying on Canadian natgas to make up the difference, but the Canadians are using more of their own production lately. Bottom line: install the woodstove. You might not need it this year, but chances are the time will come -- and soon -- when you'll be glad you have it.

-- Cash (Cash@andcarry.com), July 23, 2001.

Annie, drop by the Grassroots Information Coordination Center, AKA Glitch Central, which is also on Greenspun's LUSENET list, and read the natural gas article from the NYT (New York Times). It might help clarify your decision making.

-- Cash (Cash@andcarry.com), July 23, 2001.

Gas at our local pump is $1.65 in town it is lower, at COSTCO, 50 miles away it was $1.34 last week and at the farm Co-oP it was $1.45.

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), July 23, 2001.

Northern NY State 1.49

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), July 23, 2001.

I am soooooo jealous! Here in southern Cal (in my area, anyway) it's $1.89 for regular unleaded, and of course I have a big muscle truck which I'm fatally addicted to because it makes big hauling and towing jobs so easy. But the bottomless gas tank is a really bitter pill to swallow.

-- Leslie A. (lesliea@home.com), July 23, 2001.

Try this one: Average price of clear gas in Canada is 75.0 per litre; in US dollars that works out to about 3.41 per gallon ( in cheap Canadian dollars, mind u, but non the less very very expensive. We are in the transportation business and a full 1/3 of our cost is fuel alone. Back to the horse and buggy!!

-- Kari (wildcatt@telusplanet.net), July 23, 2001.

Should have proof read before I hit submit. NOT in US Dollars - Canadian Dollars it should have read

-- Kari (wildcatt@telusplanet.net), July 23, 2001.

Our price for reg is $1.24.in Northeast North Carolina. I work at an Exxon on the hwy that leads to the Outer Banks and every tourist says "How come your gas is so cheap?"

-- Nan (graf_nan@hotmail.com), July 23, 2001.

Gary, we're living in Peru, Ind. now. Maybe an hour south west of you. Not too far! Been to Ft. Wayne lots of times. Went up there with my sister in March, and can't believe how the outskirts have grown. Still love the downtown, I've always thought it was such a neat town. Cash, thanks for the heads up on the article. Just got done stripping wallpaper and I'm going to jump over there and read it. Looks like a woodstove would be a good idea.

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), July 23, 2001.

Annie, Any chance of you sending me a hole bunch of that $1.11 gas?????? Its $1.49.9 around here........geez 1.11.......can't remember back to when it was that low......we got up to $2.06.9 back a ways.

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), July 23, 2001.

Hey Jim, mmmmmmmm let's see.....maybe I could rent me a tanker truck, fill it up at $1.11 a gallon, drive to Mi. and sell it for $1.20!!! Then I could take the proceeds and buy me a wood stove. hee hee Don't really think the gas companies would take too kindly to that, though. They have no sense of humor. Cash, I read the article you referred to. Wow. Looks like the demand is surpassing the supply. Problem is, us average homeowners are going to be screwed. And like everything else, no one seems to notice or care. Dave and I are definately going to be on the market for a wood stove.

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), July 23, 2001.

It's $1.11 in Mt. Grove, $1.16 in Ava, $1.19 in Norwood, and $1.28 to $1.34 in West Plains.

I have no clue why the prices vary so widely, these towns are all relatively close to each other. It's weird.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 24, 2001.

Here is the middle of the oilfields where they pull the stuff out of the ground it is $1.33. Go figure.

-- connie in nm (karrellewis @aol.com), July 24, 2001.

Annie, Lets see now a rental tanker!!.......mmmmmmm...Ya could move 5k of that stuff............mmmmm.........dream on..

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), July 24, 2001.

$1.14 here. Filled up yesterday.

I read in the Wall Street Journal that the distributors are complaining that "we" the common folk didn't meet there expecations on July 4th. Aaahhhh my heart bleeds. NC and several other commie states are asking for $2.50-$3.00 per gallon by end of summer. WHY? If I understood politics I'd be crazy. (well I wouldn't be sane)LOL

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), July 25, 2001.

Just heard on the news that OPEC is going to cut crude oil production, in their words "to increase price stability" We all know what that means. The Arabs have us just where they want, totally dependent on them.

-- Bob Wick (bjwick@hotmail.com), July 25, 2001.