Nebraska maintains its crown as the King of Low Residential Propane Prices, despite small gains. (image: members.virtualtourist.com)
The Nebraska Energy Office has posted its latest numbers on the state’s propane prices, and no shocker here: Cornhuskers are still paying the least for LPG in the Midwest. Mirroring the previous week’s gains, the average retail price for a gallon of propane went up two pennies to $1.70 last week.
The gains in residential prices trail wholesale prices, which went up four cents to $1.31 — dropping the “rack-to-retail” spread to 39 cents. Not bad, since the national rack-to-retail margin looked more like $1.30, according to federal data.
As always, Nebraska’s residential propane prices were lower last week than any of the neighboring states that issue a propane report. Iowa came in closest, at $1.73 a gallon. The average retail price for the Midwest was $2.06.
On the supply side, the region had almost 25 million barrels of propane in reserve in mid-December. That is above the usual range, 17-percent more than inventory last year.