Melanie Zoltan writes the Boston Home Improvement Blog for HomeStars.com. She lives in the metroWest Boston area and enjoys the Big Dig, putting a chair on the street to mark her parking spot during snow storms, driving on 128 during rush hour, and rotaries. 
Heating oil and the coming New England winter
If you've filled up recently, you know how beautiful lock-in prices look these days. We recently had 130 gallons pumped into our tank, at a lock-in price of $2.69 per gallon.The non-lock-in price? $4.39 (this was last week--it's probably higher now). We saved $221 with lock-in pricing. But $2.69/gallon seems like pennies compared to the rate we'll lock-in to for winter 2008-2009.
$4.50+ per gallon translates into HUGE increases in heating bills for many folks in the Boston area. We used about 500 gallons this winter for our home in metroWest Boston, a 1200 square foot ranch. In our former 1905 federal four-square home in Leominster, we used 1300 gallons to heat the house each winter. When I multiply $4.50 by 1300 I start to hyperventilate. I suspect most of you do, too, if you heat with oil.
As newspapers and television stations cover the heating oil crisis, experts such as Mike Ferrante, president of the Massachusetts Oilheat Council, warn that
"When you need a delivery, you call your local oil heat dealer, and in many cases, it'll be whatever the price is that day because the market has fluctuated so much."
The statewide average on June 10 was $4.59 per gallon. Even though demand for home heating oil is considerably higher in the winter, the statewide average on January 1 was actually less --- just $3.32 per gallon.
No one can predict what the price will be this winter, but Ferrante suggested homeowners should start budgeting now for even higher costs.
"I don't care how much money you make every year," he said. "When the price of home heating oil or energy doubles, something changes in your household."
Need heating oil financial assistance? Go to Citizens Energy and read about the wide range of energy assistance programs available to people with a wide range of incomes (not just for low-income folks).
Need a new furnace, or to change heating systems? Check out our Heating listings.
Posted by Melanie Zoltan
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