Heating Oil prices - ouch (Burlington, Barre: environment, landscaping, travel)

[MTK1]

VT gas just announced that natural gas is going up. With the price increase its now only slightly cheaper than oil. I am sure there will be another increase before winter.

Vermont Gas - Important notice regarding rate changes#

[flu189]

For the majority of homeowners there will be no magic bullet or cheap way out of high heating bills. When the comparison tables came out just a little while ago it actually showed that using electric could now be a cost effective supplement, but then all the electric companies that service Vermont customers came out warning folks not to load up on space heaters as the system cannot handle the anticipated increase in load demand. Just another example how we have been asleep at the switch when it comes to electric generation and transmission capacity. Yeah, lets close Yankee and dream a little dream that the power will come from all those wonderful alternative sources at a rate that is affordable in the next few years, not to mention the ability to provide baseload power. All I can say is that the year 2012 will become a major benchmark, especially if all other sources of energy continue to increase in cost. The utilities commission already anticipate electric will at a minimum increase by over 30%, I say we should plan on a much higher increase and be greatful if it is just 30%.

[Mary77]

Originally Posted by MTK1

VT gas just announced that natural gas is going up. With the price increase its now only slightly cheaper than oil. I am sure there will be another increase before winter.

Vermont Gas - Important notice regarding rate changes#

I don't think that is accruate--the part about Natural Gas only being slightly cheaper than oil. The salesman from Vermont Gas came out to give us an estimate of how much we would save by switching from fuel oil to gas. He calculated how much it would cost us based on the amount of fuel oil we used last year. It turns out that our budget with Natural Gas will be $200/month and this includes the current rate increase that you are refering to. A couple weeks later we received our budget payment notice from our fuel oil company and the monthly budgeted payment would be $400. Twice what it was last year! That's a difference of more than $2000 in one year. To me, that is more than a slight difference.

[Serenity Seeker]

I posted on another thread looking for information on monthly utilities to judge whether a move to Vermont would be feasible. I think you've answered much of that question with the dilemma of winter heating costs. Maybe I'm better off staying put.

[arel]

I looked at a house this morning in Vermont and it uses oil heat. The seller's agent said there is no gas line for the area. There is also a fireplace, in which a wood or pellet stove could be inserted. I felt happy that I had an alternative source of heating fuel, but I am still daunted by the prospect of oil heat. All my life, I think, I have used natural gas. My buyer's agent is researchng the amount of fuel used. It's a small house, but.....

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by flu189

For the majority of homeowners there will be no magic bullet or cheap way out of high heating bills.

I still say the GOP will make sure oil is cheap for a couple months before the
election. It happened a couple of years ago during elections and it will happen again. GOP and oil companies= in bed.

[seanpecor]

There is no way for them to now control the price of a barrel of oil, even if it is true they could do so 4-8 years ago. The number of third party investors in the oil futures market has grown significantly in 4 years and - outside of production limitations - those investors are most responsible for driving up barrel prices. The problem is the futures market is not regulated tightly. There is something like 80% of the futures investor pool that don't actually USE the oil they're buying the futures for. I think the price of fuel will be even higher come election time, particularly if we have an average to above-average hurricane season.

Sean

[Mary77]

Originally Posted by arel

I looked at a house this morning in Vermont and it uses oil heat. The seller's agent said there is no gas line for the area. There is also a fireplace, in which a wood or pellet stove could be inserted. I felt happy that I had an alternative source of heating fuel, but I am still daunted by the prospect of oil heat. All my life, I think, I have used natural gas. My buyer's agent is researchng the amount of fuel used. It's a small house, but.....

Oh arel, don't do that to yourself. No one knows how high the price of oil will go. I hope you keep looking or at least find a seller who will offer an "allowance", sort of like a carpet allowance to cover at least part of the cost to insert the pellet stove. You're in a good position to deal with this heating cost problem that a lot of Vermonters are stuck with, because you still have a choice. Even a small house could cost over $4,000/yr for fuel oil and that's if the prices don't go any higher.

[BriteApril]

Originally Posted by arel

I looked at a house this morning in Vermont and it uses oil heat. The seller's agent said there is no gas line for the area. There is also a fireplace, in which a wood or pellet stove could be inserted. I felt happy that I had an alternative source of heating fuel, but I am still daunted by the prospect of oil heat. All my life, I think, I have used natural gas. My buyer's agent is researchng the amount of fuel used. It's a small house, but.....

Hi Arel,

You might want to consider installing individual thermostatic controls on each radiator. I have them and it allows me to control the heat in each room without affecting any other room or other floors. This way you are not overheating an entire house when you want to be in one room at a time. The unoccupied rooms can be turned down individually on each radiator by a simple twist of a knob (which has several settings). Just keep the settings at whatever temperature that keeps the pipes from freezing and keep yourself toasty in the other room(s) you're in. The only downside is that it probably will require a licensed plumber to install unless you know someone handy. Good luck on your move, and I hope this helps!

briteapril

[quickdraw]

During the last mid term elections, gas fell from $3.00 to $2.16 between August 11 and November 3, then back up a couple months later. Coincidence? We'll see. But the futures speculators may throw a monkeywrench into GOP plans.