30 SOURCE | Spring 2022
Propane Run Outs a Thing of the Past
Tank monitoring system is a game changer for deliveries in Ontario
Jackie Littlejohn , GROWMARK Marketing and Communications Specialist , Ontario Region
Efficiency and savings are the two hot words in the North Wellington and Huron Bay Co-operatives ’ energy departments . In 2021 , Energy Manager Allan Williamson kicked off a system overhaul for timing deliveries to propane customers . The potential for efficiency with the Otodata tank monitoring system was huge and Williamson was ready to jump in .
Huron Bay and North Wellington Cooperatives have been working closely together in their energy departments for several years , striving to achieve maximum efficiency in their overlapping territories . They share an energy division manager , a service team , trucks when necessary , and are always looking for ways to maximize those efficiencies .
The legacy system for timing propane deliveries was outdated , relying on degree days and past usage to determine when a tank would need filling . This left the drivers going to homes , shops , and barns that may not have needed a fill . In addition , customers would sometimes experience run outs from increased usage .
The upgrade plan was hatched and pitched to the boards in 2021 : Install over 2000 monitors , at no cost to the customer , on all automatic delivery customers for both co-ops . The promise was that the savings for the co-op would be greater than the cost of the monitors if the system worked as planned .
Over the course of the summer , the energy sales team , with an assist from the agronomy team in the fall , installed all the monitors on tanks in just three months . Once installed , the first couple months were a learning curve , highlighting some tank gauge issues that needed repairing , along with some adjustments for the drivers .
While there was a comfort level for drivers in filling a tank at 20 to 30 percent , with the new system tanks can be efficiently filled at 10 to 20 percent with little to no error . For those on the energy teams here , installing Otodata tank monitors on all the automatic delivery propane customers has been a game changer .
The largest costs for energy deliveries are wages and fuel . With this new system , drivers are pumping 30 percent more litres for the same costs of wages and fuel per day .
“ At every stop a driver is filling a tank versus the old system where a driver