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Entry bubble Brace Yourself for Home Heating Oil Prices

By: Joanne | September 09, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

turning down the thermostat to conserve energyLast week we filled the home heating oil tank in preparation for the cold weather. We got 435 gallons at $3.60 a gallon. Payment due upon delivery – swoon. What’s up with that?

There are a lot of factors that determine the price of home heating oil. Even when the price of crude oil is stable, it’s typical for home heating oil prices to rise in the winter months when you need it the most. It’s that old supply and demand thing from Economics 101.

We don’t have the furnace cranked on yet, but already we’re thinking of things we can do to save a few bucks and increase the energy efficiency of our home this winter. We’ve got some old, old windows in our old, old house and I think that the cost of fuel this winter is going to be enough to push us into replacing them with modern, energy efficient windows. I’ll actually clean the radiators, which, um…hasn’t been done in a while. We’ll have the furnace cleaned and the filters replaced so it’s running in tip top shape and we’re definitely going to be keeping the temperature a few degrees cooler this year. We’ll just have to break out the sweaters and fuzzy slippers and curl up with the warm kitties. I read in Consumer Reports that by turning your thermostat down between 5 and 10 degrees at night can reduce your heating costs by 20 percent. That’s pretty impressive. If you’re away from the house during the day it’s also a good idea to turn the heat down while you’re gone. If you have trouble remembering to turn your thermostat down, some people find that programmable thermostats are helpful.

The cost of heating the house this year will definitely be a burden, but we’ll make it. If you’re worried that you’re not going to be able to afford to heat your home, you should contact your state coordinator for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (also known as LIHEAP).

| View Comments [16] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: assistance   energy   heat   joanne   liheap   oil   winter  

Comments (16):

blue comment bubble Posted by A Soon-to-be-Freezing Maryland Home Heating Oil Consumer on September 09, 2008 at 09:13 AM EDT

I was surprised that you paid only $3.60 a gallon for home heating oil. We pay over $4.25 in Maryland for my last fill. Where do you live and why is it so much less?

I was disappointed the article was outdated (showing only Jan 2007 info about home heating oil prices), so I re-checked DOE's Energy Information Agency website and came up with this for the projected heating season this year (2008-09):

"Residential heating oil prices during the upcoming heating season (October though March) are projected to average $4.34 per gallon compared with $3.31 during the last heating season, an increase of about 31 percent. Residential natural gas prices over the same period are projected to average $15.58 per Mcf compared with $12.72 per Mcf, during the last heating season, an increase of about 22 percent."

Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html
The average of $4.34 per gallon is a big jump over last year. And it's just an average. You were lucky to pay only $3.60 per gallon.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on September 09, 2008 at 02:06 PM EDT

Thanks for the comments and for sharing the updated price projections for home heating fuel for the 2008-2009 heating season. I realize the link I used included price information that was a year old, but I thought the page did a pretty good job of explaining the factors that determine the market price we pay for fuel and that's why I chose it.
I can't explain why home heating oil is more expensive in Maryland than in Pennsylvania, where I live. The Department of Energy outlines that there are often regional price differences sometimes based on how remote you are (which I don't really think applies to us) and also local price competition. Beyond that, it's a mystery to me too.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Allison Casey on September 09, 2008 at 03:50 PM EDT

Thank you for posting about this topic! The upcoming winter is on our minds at DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov) as well. You've highlighted some good resources, and I'd like to share one more that readers may find helpful.

To help folks out with energy costs this winter, EERE is devoting the next 2+ months to winter energy topics on our new Energy Savers Blog (http://eere.typepad.com/energysavers/). I hope readers here will check it out and comment about their greatest energy concerns as winter approaches.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on September 09, 2008 at 06:14 PM EDT

Thanks for sharing these great resources Allison!

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blue comment bubble Posted by steve on September 10, 2008 at 03:14 PM EDT

I just checked an hour ago with a Southern States Dealer is West Virginia and oil today was 3.85---said it had already dropped .75 from the high,

How low can it go before it starts going back up???

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blue comment bubble Posted by Rob on September 12, 2008 at 05:46 PM EDT

I just switched Home Heating oil providers today. 9/12/08. I live north of Pittsburgh PA.
I received a summer fill rate of 3.49 per gallon.
I was also able to lock in 500 gallons at 3.79 for the rest of the year. I had to prepay but I use a 0% interest rewards credit card.
Hopefully I made the right move with the lock. Only 2 out of 7 providers offered this option.
Shop around and good luck!


Rob

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blue comment bubble Posted by theoldfashionedway on September 18, 2008 at 06:20 AM EDT

this whole heating oil thing was on my mind last year when i payed over 3800 to heat my 1500 square foot house. I had two choices when i recieved my stimilus check, save it to pay for a couple tanks of oil or invest in a secondary heat source. Being that i am still young i opted for the secondary heat source, thats right, i took an old fireplace, properly installed a hearthstone morgan select insert and started chopping wood, stacking wood, hauling wood, buying wood. The problem for people now is that the manufacturers of these stoves are behind in production and to get one for this winter is going to be tough. Turn the thermostat down you say? How about turn it off~! There is no way i would ever wait for any Democratic or Republican governments to help me! Your better off asking your neighbor to pay for your oil.

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blue comment bubble Posted by leftmitten db on September 25, 2008 at 03:36 PM EDT

Just bought heating oil today in Southwest Michigan for 3.99/gal. Ugh.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on September 25, 2008 at 03:47 PM EDT

Ugh is right and I think it'll get worse before it gets better. We had the furnace cleaned this week and should have all our window quotes by mid-next week. Hopefully the money invested in windows will help us save a little oil.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Freezin in Southern New England on September 27, 2008 at 07:25 PM EDT

I have done pretty much everything I can to conserve oil. I don't have a big house, it's old and guess what- the people I bought if from a few years back sorta forgot to INSULATE it when they renovated prior to my purchasing it! I have plugged up all the drafts (but need blown in insulation can't afford it this year) and am hoping the Farmer's Almanac is wrong about the deep freeze. Oil here was 3.37/gal down from 4.18 a gallon about 2 months ago. I am hoping the price drops further as I have my heat set at 66 which it actually kicked on a few times already! Last winter it was at 60 during the day when everyone was out and only at 66 at night and I still went through 100+ gals/month- blame it on setting the furnace water temp kinda high (faster heating of the house I figured), not this year! Bundling my kids and wife up this time around and wishing we had room for a wood stove in our house.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Heating Oil Man on October 14, 2008 at 06:42 PM EDT

I operate a few websites that will help you find a list of heating oil dealers near you. They also have pricing information:

www.marylandheatingoil.com

www.connecticutheatingoil.com

www.massachusettsheatingoil.com

etc.

Good luck.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 15, 2008 at 09:54 AM EDT

Thanks Heating Oil Man - these sites are handy!

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blue comment bubble Posted by scrooge on October 16, 2008 at 08:21 PM EDT

I live in Newport News, VA and yesterday called around as many oil 'folks' as possible. Price per gallon ranged from $3.39 - $4.39. Just could not believe the huge difference. Oil man any explanations?

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 17, 2008 at 09:10 AM EDT

Scrooge, trying to figure out consumer oil prices makes me nuts too. I will be eternally grateful if oil man can explain it in simple terms. You were smart to call around!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Trying to stay warm in Michigan on October 24, 2008 at 08:47 PM EDT

Living in an 1888 vintage farmhouse seemed pretty cool until last winter. We spent $5200 to heat our house with the thermostat turned down to 60 while we were home, 50 at night and during the day when we were gone. We've decided that it would be less expensive to winterize the home and go live in a 5 star hotel for the winter:) The house has no insulation in the walls, but that's the main reason this 120 year old house still stands in outstanding condition. What to do? I have refused to turn the heat on until November even with a snow forcasted for this weekend. My thoughts seem to be that the prices keep going down, so it's this huge gamble to see if the price of fuel will keep going down or if it might go back up. It's already 30 cents lower than a month ago when I called for prices! I feel like I'm playing the stock market rather than trying to heat my house and keep my family warm this winter.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 26, 2008 at 07:02 PM EDT

...in Michigan, I know how you feel. My house is about 100 years old and certainly leaves something to be desired when it comes to insulation. Our replacement windows will be installed next month and I hope that will help. Still, I think we're looking at about $5,000 to heat the house this winter. I'm going to take a deep breath and be grateful that our summer cooling costs are just about zero.

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