Major supplierNYSE: SPHEIA: 5 October 2026

Suburban Propane Price Per Gallon

Suburban Propane Partners is the third largest US retail propane marketer, with a deep Northeast and Mid-Atlantic footprint plus West Coast operations. This page covers Suburban's typical pricing, footprint, contract options, and how Suburban compares to AmeriGas and Ferrellgas.

US residential reference (EIA)

$2.598/ gallon

Week of 5 October 2026. Suburban quotes per gallon at the customer level and publishes no rate card, so this is the market it sells into, not its price.

Suburban Propane pre-buy program: how it works

Suburban's summer pre-buy program (offered in most states) lets a residential customer pay up front for a defined gallon volume at a locked price for the coming heating season. Enrollment typically opens in June or July, so the summer window is the time to ask for a quote. The locked price is built on the summer Mont Belvieu wholesale spot plus Suburban's normal delivery and margin: the Mont Belvieu benchmark closed at $0.919 per gallon on October 6, 2026. Customers who pre-pay historically capture 10 to 25 cents per gallon below the eventual winter will-call average, though the saving in any single year depends on how wholesale moves into autumn.

Suburban also offers cap (pay market with a ceiling), fixed-price, and budget (level monthly payments) options. Terms and premiums vary by state and by year, so confirm the current offer with your local Suburban office. Full detail in the pre-buy and price protection section below.

Company snapshot

Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE: SPH) is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey. Suburban traces its origins to 1928 and through a series of acquisitions has built out a footprint of approximately 750 customer service locations across 42 states. The company serves approximately 1 million customers across residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural segments, plus a smaller heating oil and motor fuels operation in select markets.

The Suburban footprint is densest in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina) and on the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington), with secondary presence in the Southeast and parts of the Midwest. Suburban Propane is consistently among the top three or four US propane retailers by gallons sold, alongside AmeriGas (UGI), Ferrellgas, and Suburban itself.

Residential delivery pricing

Suburban Propane, like other major retail propane marketers, does not publish per-gallon residential prices online. Pricing is quoted at the customer level based on region, contract type, tank ownership status, and annual consumption tier, and no public source surveys the major marketers separately, so there is no honest way to state what Suburban charges per gallon against what its competitors charge. What is published is the market Suburban sells into: the EIA weekly residential average for your state. Use that as the benchmark and ask Suburban to quote against it.

Suburban offers the standard contract options.

Will-call delivery: Reactive delivery at the customer's request. Highest per-gallon Suburban price tier in most regions.
Automatic delivery: Suburban monitors tank levels via heating-degree-day estimation. Typical 3 to 6 cent per gallon discount versus will-call, similar to other major suppliers.
Suburban Comfort Care: Suburban's branded service plan, bundling automatic delivery, tank monitoring, and priority service. Available in most markets.
Price protection programs: Cap, fixed, and pre-buy programs available in most state markets. Specific terms and premiums vary by state.

How Suburban compares to AmeriGas and Ferrellgas

The three largest US propane retailers (AmeriGas, Ferrellgas, Suburban Propane) operate with similar business models, similar contract offerings, and generally similar pricing bands. The competitive differences are mostly geographic.

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: Suburban and AmeriGas typically compete head-to-head, with local independents in many markets. Pricing tends to cluster within a few cents per gallon.
Midwest: AmeriGas and Ferrellgas have the larger footprints; Suburban is present but less dense. Rural cooperative dealers are common competition.
Southeast: Mixed competitive landscape. All three majors operate; local and regional dealers are significant.
West Coast: Suburban is strong in California, Oregon, and Washington. AmeriGas and regional dealers are the main competition.

A residential customer should get quotes from all available major and independent dealers in the customer's zip code. The per-gallon variation across three quotes is commonly 10 to 25 cents.

Commercial and industrial pricing

Suburban serves commercial and industrial accounts across food service, hospitality, agriculture, and autogas fleets. Commercial pricing follows the volume- tier structure detailed on our commercial vs residential page. Suburban does not publish commercial tiers or a rate card, so no per-tier percentage appears here. The published comparison is sector-wide and comes from EIA's State Energy Data System: for 2024, US commercial propane averaged $1.642 per gallon against $2.477 residential and industrial averaged $1.133. Read those as what the two kinds of account paid on average nationally, not as a discount Suburban offers, and note that the same data puts the gap at 3.2% in Iowa and 62.6% in Hawaii. A commercial quote turns on committed annual volume, delivery scheduling, tank ownership and whether the price is indexed to a named rack.

Suburban's autogas business serves school district and municipal fleets in markets where Suburban has the regional infrastructure, and federal alternative fuel tax credits (when in effect) widen the gap further. The nearest published anchor is EIA's transportation sector propane price, $1.848 per gallon for 2024, 25.4% below the residential sector.

Tank ownership and contract terms

Suburban will lease a tank to a residential customer or recognise customer-owned tanks of the appropriate ASME rating. Lease arrangements bundle the tank, installation, regulator service, and maintenance into the per-gallon price; the lease amortisation contribution is typically 5 to 12 cents per gallon. Customer-owned tanks reduce the per-gallon price but transfer the tank ownership, maintenance, and eventual replacement to the customer. For a customer planning to stay in the home for 15+ years, ownership typically wins on a present-value basis; for shorter horizons, leasing simplifies the transaction.

Suburban service contracts often include minimum annual consumption commitments to maintain pricing tiers. Customers consuming below the contractual minimum may be subject to surcharges (typical low-volume fee of $35 to $75 per year). Reading the contract for these minimums before signing is worthwhile.

Pre-buy and price protection at Suburban

Suburban's pre-buy program (offered in most states) lets the customer pay up front for a defined volume at a locked summer price. Pre-buy enrollment typically opens in June or July with the price reflecting summer Mont Belvieu spot plus Suburban's normal delivery and margin. Customers willing to put working capital into the deal historically capture 10 to 25 cents per gallon below the eventual winter will-call average. The pre-buy program details vary by state and by year.

Suburban's cap programs let customers pay current market with a ceiling, paying a small premium (10 to 25 cents per gallon) for the price-spike protection. Useful for households who want to benefit from downward price moves while protecting against the polar vortex scenario.

Investor disclosures as a price signal

Because Suburban Propane Partners is a publicly traded MLP, its quarterly investor disclosures include some information about realised pricing and margins. The Suburban 10-Q filings (available at the SEC EDGAR system and at Suburban's investor relations site at suburbanpropane.com/investor-relations) typically report gallons sold, gross margin per gallon, and the weighted-average wholesale propane cost basis used. For analysts and journalists tracking the propane market, this is one of the few sources of public per-gallon margin data for a major US propane retailer. AmeriGas went private when UGI acquired its remaining public units in 2019; Ferrellgas Partners still files with the SEC, with its Class A units trading over-the-counter under the ticker FGPR, so Suburban and Ferrellgas are the two majors with standalone public disclosures. The Suburban margin figure is a useful sanity check on the residential-to-wholesale spread.

What to ask before signing

For a residential customer evaluating Suburban quotes, the questions that matter:

What is the per-gallon price for my expected annual volume? (Get a tier-based answer, not a single number)
Is the price temperature-compensated? (Should be yes)
What is the tank lease fee, and is it itemised separately or included in the per-gallon price?
What is the minimum annual consumption to avoid surcharges?
What pre-buy and cap options are available, and what do they cost?
What is the early-termination fee if I switch suppliers?
Is automatic delivery available, and what is the per- gallon discount vs will-call?

FAQ

Is Suburban Propane more expensive than AmeriGas?

Not consistently. The two majors typically price within a few cents per gallon of each other in head-to-head markets. Local independents and regional dealers can beat both of them in many markets, particularly rural ones.

Where does Suburban Propane operate?

42 states, with the densest footprint in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and on the West Coast. Approximately 750 customer service locations and roughly 1 million customers.

Does Suburban offer a budget payment plan?

Yes, the Suburban budget plan divides estimated annual cost into monthly payments to level cash flow. No per-gallon discount, but easier budget management.

How can I find Suburban Propane pricing data?

Suburban does not publish residential per-gallon pricing. Quarterly SEC filings (Suburban Propane Partners 10-Q at SEC EDGAR) include weighted-average wholesale cost and gross margin per gallon as aggregate disclosures, but not by region or customer class.

Does Suburban Propane have a pre-buy program?

Yes. Suburban offers a summer pre-buy program in most states that lets a customer pay up front for a defined volume at a locked price. Enrollment typically opens in June or July, with the price reflecting summer Mont Belvieu spot plus Suburban's normal delivery and margin. Customers who pre-pay historically capture 10 to 25 cents per gallon below the eventual winter will-call average. Suburban also offers cap and fixed-price protection programs. Terms and premiums vary by state and by year, so confirm the current offer with your local Suburban office.