[TheCommuter]

Do any of you heat your homes with heating oil/heating fuel during the winter months? If so, in which state are you located, and about how much does it cost your household to stay warm during the winter? Thanks in advance.

I was simply curious, because I think the high fuel prices are going to cause financial hardships for some people during the cold months if nothing changes.

[CT Pixie]

I heat the house with oil, I also use oil to warm the water for the hot water tank. Needless to say I HAVE to have oil in the tank 24/7 x 265!

Last year we were locked in at $2.499/gallon. I have a delivery once a month and I have a 275 gallon tank. I was paying about $200ish per month. We keep the temp at around 67 degrees. (We are on a 10 month payment plan) but we probably have about 8 deliverys a year (Sept-March and then one in about May that holds us again until Septs delivery)

Now, NO one will lock in prices for oil! I have to call my company to get another oil delivery and I am shaking just thinking about what the cost per gallon is going to now and for the winter.

I can tell you up here, most heat with oil and there are going to many many people in hardship due to the price of oil this year. I forsee a lot of houses going into forclosure over it. How can one be expected to pay a mortgage, and then oil delivery payments that are close to $500 per month and then add in the price of gas for the vehicles. Unreal! People are going to have to choose between eating a decent meal or heating their homes, or keeping the house on the cold side in order to have the $ to put in the gas take to drive to work to get the $ to put in the oil tank and food on the table. Its going to be a no win situation for a lot of people.

Hopefully, we'll have a mild winter like we did last year. But something tells me since the price of oil is so high, we'll end up with a bitterly cold winter

[towntalker]

i think that the northeast uses the oil heating a lot, and that is one of the really cold areas of the country..we use electricity year around but utility companies in this area use coal or natural gas to make the electric so we are going to be paying more for the
we can do better than a lot of places during the winter but no way are we going to do w/o a/c
i hope that the prices are down to a more reasonable rate before winter comes

[Silverdragon102]

This is something I will read with interest. We have both wood and oil furnaces with wood being the main and oil as back up. When we bought the house it came with a full tank but the fun bit is trying to predict how much wood we need to get so it can dry out for next winter. One complaint I have is a lot of dust which I am worried will not help my Asthma which has been well controlled for several years but in the UK was used to gas or electric central heating and radiators not forced air

[TheCommuter]

I suppose I'm feeling terribly for the elderly, poor people, and working class individuals who will not be able to afford an increased heating oil bill along with the rest of the household expenses.

My heart is saddened to think of all the people who will be shivering all winter because they simply cannot afford to pay the $4 or $5 per gallon for the oil that heats their homes.

[earle58]

Originally Posted by TheCommuter

I suppose I'm feeling terribly for the elderly, poor people, and working class individuals who will not be able to afford an increased heating oil bill along with the rest of the household expenses.

My heart is saddened to think of all the people who will be shivering all winter because they simply cannot afford to pay the $4 or $5 per gallon for the oil that heats their homes.

you have a very kind heart.

leslie

[Spidey's mom]

I heard this on the news today.

My in-laws have a diesel heater ($$) and a wood stove.

We have a wood burning furnace so all we have to do is cut firewood.

steph

[mshultz]

It is cheaper to heat by electricity now, than by fuel oil or propane. I think that electricity rates will be going up, but not as much as fuel oil and propane have.

I suspect that the days of economical oil heat are over.

When I built my house in 1988, I installed a high-efficiency oil furnace (90%+ efficient, pvc pipe instead of a chimney) along with a 550 gallon underground fuel tank. Natural gas was not available at the time, and oil was cheaper than propane.

In the following years:
Despite constant maintenance, I could not keep the furnace working. I got disgusted, and had it replaced with an electric forced-air furnace, which has been reliable and does not produce fumes.

An allotment was built across the street, and natural gas is now available, but I am not interested. Replacing my furnace with a gas furnace would not be cost effective, especially since many of the high efficiency gas furnaces have been trouble-prone and short-lived.

Central sewers are coming to my neighborhood. I will have the underground tank removed at that time.

[TheCommuter]

Originally Posted by mshultz

It is cheaper to heat by electricity now, than by fuel oil or propane. I think that electricity rates will be going up, but not as much as fuel oil and propane have.

My house is heated with electricity, and my electric bills range from $100 to $125 per month during those colder winter months. While I don't live in a region that has severe winters, the temperatures usually dip to about 18 degrees with light snow in the area where I reside.

[loricatus]

Originally Posted by TheCommuter

My house is heated with electricity, and my electric bills range from $100 to $125 per month during those colder winter months. While I don't live in a region that has severe winters, the temperatures usually dip to about 18 degrees with light snow in the area where I reside.

I know this is off topic, but I am in a state of shock right now getting the electric bill of over $600.00 for one month. I was only here 2 weeks out of that month. The a/c was set just just high enough to prevent heatstroke in our dogs for the other two weeks while my husband was at work. Needless to say, we can't pay that much and will have to work something out with the electric company. If this is an indication of things to come for the winter, up north, I pity what is going to happen to the average person & the elderly. This just seems to be a case of greed gone unchecked-something has got to give.