Setting up oil heat in a rental house- Advice Please! (low income, water heater)

[Geoffh]

I just rented a house and I need to make a decision about heating oil. I have a lot of questions:

First, the house is somewhat old and the landlord recommends that I use a contract that includes service for optimal efficiency of the oil we purchase. Is this recommended?

Second, if the price of oil drops does the contract price go down as well or is it fixed?

Third, the rate they are quoting me is $3.69 a gallon, however heating oil futures for august delivery are currently trading at $3.05 per gallon. Is it better to wait?

Fourth, the company we were recommended was Alliance. Are there any others?

THANKS!

[nzone]

If this is old house and old boiler, there is nothing efficiency about it. In 1 month, I burned 1/3 of the tank for just hot water (indirect water heater). A 1/3 tank (of 275 tank), that is about 92 gallons of oil. At 3.69/gal, that's about $340 for just heating water.

If you signed contract for oil delivery, you are hooked to said price when you signed.

[anouk_pantoufle]

Originally Posted by Geoffh

I just rented a house and I need to make a decision about heating oil. I have a lot of questions:

First, the house is somewhat old and the landlord recommends that I use a contract that includes service for optimal efficiency of the oil we purchase. Is this recommended?

Second, if the price of oil drops does the contract price go down as well or is it fixed?

Third, the rate they are quoting me is $3.69 a gallon, however heating oil futures for august delivery are currently trading at $3.05 per gallon. Is it better to wait?

Fourth, the company we were recommended was Alliance. Are there any others?

THANKS!

Be wary!! I signed a contract - this was supposed to be a budget plan (I'm really, really low income - disability) and the monthly cost turned out to be more than we actually used. It's a lesson learned for me...

Yes, there are other oil companies - you could see if any neighbors are around & ask who they use. Also, Joe Kennedy has the Citizens Energy Corp to help w/oil heat.

Your landlord is the one who needs to get service on the tanks!! Geez - sometimes it boggles the mind... a detail that I didn't like w/our place is that our landlord required us to use one particular company - so I can't utilize something like Joe Kennedy's group.

Oil heat really is awful - not to scare you. We really froze last yr - kept it low (have a teeny 2 bdrm apt) but it still cost about $325 a month. I know others have it even higher, but that's a lot of money for me.

Best of luck!