Just looked at my pre-pay option for home heating oil, compared it to last year, and woke up fifteen minutes later with a splitting headache.
Last year I had 650 gallons, locked in at 2.399 = $1559.35
This year I'm looking at 650 gallons, locked in at 4.439 = $2885.35
Would be interested to know what rates anyone has received.
Thanks!
Coupled with the school tax bill isn't summer fun?
4 comments:
Ross
I received the same price you did. I made a change last year to my summer/winter hook up and put an Indirect Tank into place. It looks like a big Hot Water Heater but it isn't in that it is a tank that has a coil that keeps 99% of the water warm all the time. My heat and my water are now zoned so when I call for hot water all the energy from the burner goes to the tank to rapidly heat the top layer sending it on its way to the tap. Once that is completed it goes back to neutral until called upon to heat the house or the water again. It is a great system and if folks check with a heating specialist they can get more information
I'm suprised that you found a company that is willing to offer pre-pay this year. Fogel's isn't and mostof the other places I have called aren't (at least not for new customers).
Since the price is so high, and most places I have talked to are offering "lock-in" prices rather than "max" pricing, I don't know if it is a good idea to prepay this year anyway.
I am having my mom knit some wool booties for my cat and I plan on sleeping in a sweatshirt.
Had our traditional electric water heater crack this year and I looked for alternatives given the concern of the electricity rate caps coming off (warning to borough residents - have your water pressure off the street checked - ours was over 105 and is now regulated at 65 this may have contributed to the unit cracking).
If you have gas there is a seemingly incredible choice of a unit that literally heats water as it passes through and has no tank.
I ultimately chose what Chris did. If you have a water based furnace (boiler) you can leverage the water that heats your home to also heat your water without using electricity. The company installed one new zone as Chris notes, that shifts focus to water when needed.
What I liked about this unit in addition to the savings on the electricity is that the tank was guaranteed for life so long as the purchaser still owned the home. As I wasn't planning on moving, I figured that was worth something with traditional tanks being given a 7-10 year life expectancy.
It wasn't the cheapest up front option, but hopefully it will pay off over time.
Papier Boy, I hear you. Two years ago or so we were on month to month and got walloped when prices jumped. As I recall a two month stretch of December and January were higher than the previous year combined.
I started calling right away and found the best deal was with the company I had - in the up front lock-in rate.
Unfortunately, I hadn't budgeted for this big an increase and couple the timing with the school tax bill and its tough.
We are not sure if we are going to try to muster up the extra money, or if we are going to purchase less fuel on the gamble that prices won't rise to significantly or drop. The issue being once we run out, we'll have to pay at cost the balance of the year.
Bummer is I have no luck what so ever at PowerBall, which seems like the best payment option;-)
Ross, last year we did exactly that... we made a decision to buy less fuel up-front and take a chance that the winter would be warm. The problem with last year, if you'll remember, is that oil prices went down for a period. So the summer lock-in actually worked against us. Couple this with the fact that we added insulation, a programmable thermostat, zoned parts of the house, and sealed up some areas of the house, we actually were buying more of a supply than I originally thought.
This year I have made a decision to continue to improve the efficiency of the house, pay for each delivery at the going rate, and hope (pray, really) that prices at least level off. Also hoping for a mild winter, of course.
I guess I'll just have to wait longer for my sculptures to dry since the house will be so cold this year...
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