LPG Spotlight: Patrons Cooperative

Good timing, as a supplement to hard work, persistence and reputation, can help a business succeed. It’s a concept familiar to Brett Holtz, general manager of Patrons Cooperative Association in Rapid City, South Dakota.

It was only within the last five years or so that Patrons, a cooperative of about 400 propane and fuel providers, began using tank monitors. That might seem late to the game, but for Holtz, it has worked out well.

“In years past, monitors were hit or miss,” Holtz says. “The technology wasn’t there. But nowadays, the current generation of monitors is exceptional. They’re smaller, and they work better.”

Holtz says newer tank monitors, due to their smaller size, are moisture-resistant, which is important in South Dakota’s variable climate, where high temperatures can suddenly plunge and turn rain into snow and vice versa.

The introduction of tank monitors at Patrons Cooperative has led to the infusion of other forms of technology that help the organization operate more efficiently and safely.

The tank monitors – which Patrons Cooperative acquires from Anova – have allowed Patrons to track its customers’ propane supplies more accurately.

“Before, we just projected when the tanks would run out of propane,” Holtz says. “The monitors have taken the question mark out of our operations.”

That’s especially vital for elderly customers who sometimes forget to check their tank levels.

“Those are the ones we really have to watch out for,” Holtz says. “Most people are pretty good at checking, but as you age, you get preoccupied with other things and forget. That’s why it’s important to get monitors on those tanks.”

Patrons Cooperative has installed about 175 monitors and hopes to add another 40 to 50 monitors in 2026, as time and money allow, Holtz says.

Anova also gives Patrons Cooperative analytical tools based on tank-monitor data. Holtz and his team can see how their efficiency ratio – the amount of propane remaining in customers’ tanks and the time it takes to refill tanks – compares with other Anova clients.

Anova doesn’t reveal names and numbers of individual clients, but it aggregates efficiency-ratio data from all 2,000 of them to use as a basis of comparison.

Tank-monitoring data also allows Patrons Cooperative to forecast propane demand and prioritize which customers to serve daily. Also, Patrons is notified if the monitors aren’t working – perhaps, for example, due to a drained battery.

“The name of the game is not having outages, and that’s a big deal with safety, too,” Holtz says. “During the cold months, especially in the Upper Midwest, when it gets really cold, that prevents a lot of problems.”

Accurate tank monitoring and timely refilling can even save lives. In one case, Patrons technicians, responding to a monitor, drove to a home to refill a tank and found that the customer’s propane furnace wasn’t working properly.

“If we hadn’t been there to fill her propane tank, she wouldn’t have known,” Holtz says.

Holtz says Patrons’ propane emergencies involving customers running out of propane in frigid weather have dropped from an average of five to 10 a year down to one, thanks to tank monitors.

Company Profile: Patrons Cooperative Association

Year founded // 1930
Headquarters // Rapid City, South Dakota
Owners // Locally owned by cooperative members
Annual propane gallon sales // 340,000
Bobtails // 3
Employees // 5
Online // patronscooperative.com

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