State propane associations face electrification challenges

Many of the battles waged by Propane Fuels America states this year have centered on the electrification movement.

In certain parts of the country, local levels of government have attempted to legislate and regulate gas out of the energy mix, erasing consumer choice in favor of electricity. Propane gas associations at the state and national levels continue to work together, at times with the natural gas industry, to fight these proposals.

At the Propane Education & Research Council’s November meeting, industry leaders cited the importance of producing data and other information that could form a factual basis against proposed anti-gas regulations in building codes and standards.

As you’ll read, the states featured this month in Propane Fuels America – Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia – are not immune to these challenges.

The Mid Atlantic Propane Gas Association has turned to Facebook and radio ads to address the narrative with electrification, which, Executive Director Jonathan Williams says, is his association’s biggest threat.

“We focused on the environmental benefits [of propane] to try to combat some of the electrification propaganda that’s out there,” he says.

Though the electrification-of-everything movement has dominated much of the conversation in industry circles this year, states still face other challenges that keep association executives up at night.

For example, since the mid-1990s, the West Virginia Propane Gas Association (WVPGA) has seen a significant decline in the number of independent marketer members, says Executive Director Tom Osina, who will retire in 2022 after about 40 years of leadership. Today, the WVPGA has nine independent marketer member companies.

“It has greatly changed just about everything – from the folks who show up to our membership meetings, who serve on our committees, who do the everyday volunteer work for the association,” says Osina, citing consolidation as one factor.

Osina says the challenge of getting others involved in the association has been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which makes it harder for people to put their focus elsewhere when they’re trying to keep their businesses afloat.

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