Heating oil rant

[peppy]

I ordered 200 gallons of heating oil last Thursday, the price given to me was $4.199. They delivered on Tuesday and the price was $4.499. I have never had this happen in the past, and evidently this is a common practice.

[GH85Carrera]

Wow. How long does that last? Almost $900 for heat.

We have natural gas. For many years my gas bill was under 50 bucks per month averaged over 12 months. In the summer only heating water, or cooking needs gas and the bill was just over the fees to have an account.

The prices have since gone way up, and I am over $100 per month now because the price of natural gas has gone nuts. The good news is it never runs out during a cold snap and I don't have to call for a delivery in a snow storm.

[pwd72s]

Too easy to send this to PARF...so I'll just say you should be happy you don't live in a west coast state.

[peppy]

The total bill was $995. We use about 700 gallons a year, and only use it when temps are 20's and below.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Wow, I thought you guys would be paying a lot less than we do in the UK

Price at the moment here per US gal is $4.50

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by peppy

I ordered 200 gallons of heating oil last Thursday, the price given to me was $4.199. They delivered on Tuesday and the price was $4.499. I have never had this happen in the past, and evidently this is a common practice.

Look into locking in a price for the next season.
I do this almost every year. Paying off well for propane this year for me.

[TimT]

I live in the NE.. oil fired burner/steam heat I've tweaked my system, to get almost 86% efficiency and continue to tweak... its an uber low pressure system...

That means for every dollar I spend on fuel 14c is wasted... I've been tracking costs for a few years since I put a outdoor reset system on a steam boiler., which is not common

Anyway you can see the cost of fuel oil in the NE since 2016

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by TimT

I live in the NE.. oil fired burner/steam heat I've tweaked my system, to get almost 86% efficiency and continue to tweak... its an uber low pressure system...

That means for every dollar I spend on fuel 14c is wasted... I've been tracking costs for a few years since I put a outdoor reset system on a steam boiler., which is not common

Anyway you can see the cost of fuel oil in the NE since 2016

I use about 2x what you do in the winter, looking at that sheet.
I don’t track it. For a reason.

Last year I locked and it paid off big time. Not sure if it’s worth it this year - even with the opec cuts oils under 100 a barrel. I may let it float.

[Solamar]

I live in a small semi rural community, about 100 homes, all on propane. Years back, as a community, we asked a half dozen propane distributers to give us their best quote and we would give the best all our business. The quotes were some propane index +fixed markup.

It has worked out extremely well for our community.

Might try that with your neighbors and heating oil?

[peppy]

I rechecked my math and we only used 552 gallons last year.

[peppy]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Look into locking in a price for the next season.
I do this almost every year. Paying off well for propane this year for me.

My mom and dad used to do that, but you were set on an automatic refill and could get hit with a huge bill because they would let your tank get very low.

[Por_sha911]

I use propane for a fireplace only. We get it refilled in July when the price is the lowest. They honor the price quoted when I called in the order.

[fintstone]

I bought a 10-year supply of propane in 2020 at 1.31 gal...so hopefully there will be another 10 year low in about 9 years.

[peppy]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I use propane for a fireplace only. We get it refilled in July when the price is the lowest. They honor the price quoted when I called in the order.

That is my rant. I have always paid the quoted price when I ordered the heating oil.

[flipper35]

This is why we switched to geothermal. Paid for itself in 6.5 years over heating oil and that was back in 2009.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by flipper35

This is why we switched to geothermal. Paid for itself in 6.5 years over heating oil and that was back in 2009.

Is that payoff including credits?


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[smadsen]

The price to your wholesaler is set when the truck rolls out the gate from the refinery. The retail price is set accordingly and can change on an hourly basis. The wholesaler wants to sell from almost full tanks in a rising market (because your next load will cost more), and conversely, sell from almost empty tanks in a declining market.

[craigster59]

Don't the pellet stoves, cast iron and soapstone help to heat a house? Or is that considered a gross polluter? I've grown up in SoCal and we don't deal much with winter heating bills.

We just get boned on fuel to get us around town.

[NY65912]

My family used to have a heating oil company in Brooklyn and customers would constantly call complaining of price and we always were able to adjust the bill. In fact my cousin is the customer retaining person for a large oil company on Long Island. He adjusts customers prices all day long.

If you are in a market where companies compete for customers you have a good chance of leveraging the "switch company" tactic.

FWIW, there was not a big a margin as you might think. It was always more important to keep the customer than loose a few cents a gallon.

Also, oil companies purchase contracts for a set amount of gallons a year at a set price from distributors and sometimes come up short. We bought on the spot market as well. The current market is pretty volatile.

Good luck

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Don't the pellet stoves, cast iron and soapstone help to heat a house? Or is that considered a gross polluter? I've grown up in SoCal and we don't deal much with winter heating bills.

We just get boned on fuel to get us around town.

My pellet stove provides the main source of heat for my home. Mine IS a very small house, just under 1000 sq ft so it's worth it. I pay $300 per ton and usually burn 4 tons per winter.