Home heating oil is used by approximately 8.5 million out of 107+ million homes in the US. These homes, mostly in the North Eastern US, depend on heating oil to stay warm every winter.
Home heating oil prices fluctuate greatly from year to year, and even from day to day (just like the price of gasoline). Heating oil is generally used between October and March for obvious reasons, yet people do purchase heating oil throughout the year. Some people have storage space for fuel oil, and consider purchasing during the summer months, when prices historically have been lower. However, most residential homes do not have enough space to hold the quantity of heating oil needed to service the entire year. For this reason, many homes purchase home heating oil 4 to 5 times per winter or even more.
As of the start of December 2009, heating oil is currently hovering around $2.70 per gallon, this is about in line with where it was last year at this time, however at that time it was taking a nosedive and had been much higher only a month earlier. Over a year, heating oil prices can change dramatically. In 2008, between the normal sales period, the price of home heating oil fluctuated in between $2.10 and $4.50 per gallon. The average home that uses heating oil, consumes 800-1000 gallons per annum, meaning heating oil costs the average household, thousands of dollars per year.
The cost of heating oil can vary greatly depending on the size of the house, insulation, number and location of heating zones, desired temperature, and of course the fluctuating prices of heating oil. The price of heating oil can depend on things such as demand, supply, competition, transportation costs in your given geography, and sometimes factors that don't seem to make much sense at all. Bottomline, for many people this cost can be between $2000-4000 or more per year.
Despite the fact that the interet if very established, we found that when it comes to distributing information to consumers, the heating oil industry was sorely lagging. As with any investment, knowledge and power, and we believe this lack of information has caused many people to pay more for heating oil than they would have if they had up to date information of the prices of all service providers in their area, from day to day. The large fluctuations in prices, the total cost households pay every winter, and the lack of information inspired us to create this site, dedicated to helping you save. Our service is free to consumers, and it's no risk. So give us a chance, and see if we can save you money.
