I get the impression this isn't typical, but for me "gas" usually means a 150-gal propane tank, filled asynchronously, often by truck rather than gas main. A benefit of this, like most asynchronous systems, is that no amount of disfunction in the backend will have any immediate effect on local usage.
I don't know anyone who, when talking about heating, says "gas" and means "propane". "gas" is usually shorthand for "natural gas", usually from the grid. If they were talking about propane, they'd say that.
But yeah- in my neck of the woods, anywhere outside the city has a propane tank on the property somewhere.
Or, depending on local attitudes and media, any amount of dysfunction can have an immediate effect on availability, as people stockpile in response to fears of disruptions that never materialize at all :(
> an []immediate[] effect on availability, as people stockpile
Actually, that is a specific thing that this method does help with: if people stockpile in a given month, it has no immediate effect on me, because my gas tank still has gas left in it. It might cause non-immediate problems, but a lack of local buffers doesn't help with that, and I've at least bought weeks or months of time for those problems to clear up.
Are there 2 unique gas distribution systems? Was there no gas, or was it just super expensive spot price and no one wanted to pay for it?