Read this is the paper while having my morning coffee: Average heating oil prices in Maine rose steadily from roughly $2 a gallon in 2004 to nearly $3.70 a gallon in 2014, except for a sharp dip during the 2009 recession. In the past two years, though, they have fallen off a cliff, averaging $1.86 a gallon for the 2015-2016 heating season. Maine still leads the nation in the share of homes heated with oil. But penetration has fallen from a peak of 80 percent in 2000, to 74 percent in 2010, to 67 percent in 2014, according to U.S. Census data. During that period, natural gas, propane and wood picked up market share. Many Mainers also installed high-efficiency electric heat pumps. Oil here is $149/gal
I've never had to keep an eye on oil prices, we use gas for hot water only and that averages about $22-25/mo. Wood is the primary for heating, and a gas fired furnace as a backup. For the folks who use oil it seems like a comfortable place to be.
I took my oil furnace out last year and put in propane furnace (95% efficient) with baseboard HW. Also have a gas stove. But we heat with pellets here and my son, living upstairs, uses the gas for heat. I could heat their area with the stove, but it wouldn't be even in the kid's room. We used to heat the same areas with one wood stove. Did that for 15 years. My kids never complained about being cold.
Our first year in our new house, oil was 1.19 pre-buy and it was capped at 1.29. I should check out the oil prices from our dealer, maybe we should heat with oil this year.
savemoney I currently have the woodstove and oil baseboard for back up and DHW. I considered switching to propane instead of oil but here the calculation came on average over 10 year time frame oil was cheaper.. if only because unless I bought a 400 gallon propane tank I was tied into one supplier over getting best price from several competitors..
I hear you, I only left oil and went to propane because I needed the space the oil furnace, oil tank and water heater took up. Now the whole unit is mounted on the wall with a direct vent. I tried to buy my own tank, but no luck around here. I hunted and hunted. But the fuel company I am with now is reasonable and their service is good. I don't use a whole lot, so I can't complain. The best part is my gas stove. Love cooking on gas. Had to put in a lot of safety devices because the wife was having issues with it. Now anything she does wrong sets off an alarm.
they are available online... can't find Web site right now yeah I have propane for dryer and stove... probably because ummmm... 5 story house 30x 40 barn and 3.5 car garage with bonus room above and 100 amp panel,,, but I can fill camper 40 pounders for 2 a gallon and get by til I upgrade panel... yeah that's cheap but not 350 feet of 500MM
The first year I was here, I took out the propane that was attached to a 500 gallon tank. I called the company that owned the tank and told them they had a month to come and get it. They didn't. So I put it on Craigs List for Free! It was about 30% full. I also included all the regulators. Within a few days it was gone. The propane furnace I gave to a neighbor. The second year I was here, I installed a wood stove, removed the Class B liner and cap, punched a new hole through the brick and fireclay liner, added a new thimble and then installed a stainless steel liner with vermiculite for insulation. The third year I was here, I removed the Fuel Oil tanks (2 - 250 gallon) as well as the Oil Furnace. That is sitting in the pump house and one oil tank is sitting behind the garage in it's stand. The other oil tank was repurposed into a spring head settling tank cover after being cut in half and placed a treated wood frame inside and then painted. I've been heating with wood ever since the second year with no regrets. As for fuel oil prices, I don't even look at them because it no longer matters. GOT !!!
lots of people changing to natural gas here from HHO in the last decade, last 5 years especially. I replaced my oil boiler with a new oil fired Buderus 90% 4 years ago Glad I did when I had the money. HHO today is $1.69 which works out to about a little over $200/cord-hardwood. You'd have to have a rather old inefficient oil boiler to save money buying firewood at $225-$250. Which appears to be the going rate around here right now. I don't buy firewood at cut and split for ya prices but it sure is nice having relatively economical choices for staying warm compared to just a few years ago.
Its the same trend here in Norway. Electricity prices are down, and combined with proliferation of highly efficient heat-pumps, nothing else comes close. Heck, I even got some really cheap pre-cut wood delivered, and with 80 % efficient stove, electricity is still a little cheaper (without a heat pump - we don't have that). This might change if we get a hard winter, although if the current trend is anything to go by, we wont. But as always; free is free. So when we get our 3 year plan up and going proper it will feel a little better.
