The Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety has been receiving complaints from consumers of propane throughout the state, that their propane provider is unable to provide timely service of propane deliveries during the extreme cold conditions that the state is currently experiencing. In some cases, this inability of the propane provider to service their customers has resulted in out=of-propane conditions with the potential of damage to property, due to frozen water pipes, and more importantly, life safety concerns, with customers using space heaters or even attaching their system to other containers (e.g. 100lb cylinders) without a proper test for leakage.
Because of these issues and the health and safety concerns they bring in this current 2023/2024 winter heating season, the Division will not enforce the provisions of Colorado Revised Statute 8-20-302 Refill Container Unlawful — which prohibits filling a propane container by others — if all the following conditions are met:
1. A consumer is out of propane or in imminent danger of running out of propane.
2. A consumer has made a good faith effort to contact the propane provider who owns the container.
3. The propane provider who owns the container has not responded by filling the container.
4. Another propane provider other than the container owner is willing to fill the container.
5. The alternate propane provider has made a good faith effort to contact the container owner and obtain permission to fill the container.
6. The alternate propane owner documents their efforts to contact the container owner and obtain permission to fill the container.
7. The alternate propane provider documents that the container is out of propane, or in imminent danger of running out of propane.
8. In the case of an out-of-propane situation, the provisions of the Colorado LP-Gas Regulations in Section 3-2 Delivery After Interruption of Service, and all other safety requirements in accordance with Colorado statutes, regulations and codes, are met.
Question regarding this issue may be directed to Scott Wagner at 303-378-6817, or scott.wagner@state.co.us