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A fuel price forecast published by the U.S. Energy Administration last month expects gasoline prices to average more than $2.75 per gallon in 2019, and the Propane Education & Research Council is reminding professional landscape contractors to prepare now for another cutting season with high gasoline prices.
“No contractor likes to think about all the money their business has to expend just to purchase fuel, and we certainly hear more complaints from contractors when gasoline prices start to approach that $3.00 per gallon mark when it turns from a nuisance to a cost that sometimes they financially can’t bear,” said Jeremy Wishart, director of off-road business development at PERC. “But contractors don’t have to feel helpless against the fuel price posted at their local gasoline filling station if they switch to mowers powered by propane, which consistently costs between 30 and 50 percent less per gallon than gasoline. That price margin only widens when gasoline prices rise like they’re going to do again next season.”
In addition to a lower price per gallon of fuel, contractors can usually lock in a set fuel price with their local propane supplier, so they pay the same rate for fuel all year long.
Whether a contractor is ready to make the switch to propane, or is simply interested in learning more about propane-powered equipment in advance of the 2019 season, the Propane Council has resources available to inform and support their businesses in a variety of ways:
