Jubilee21
May 12th, 2008, 03:57 PM
((((sigh)))!!
Given the current news of the exponential rate of rising oil and gas cost's along side of food, etc..am thinking one does not have to be an expert at all to see what heating costs will be like this winter.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1370777/experts_say_heating_costs_will_stay_high/
By DANIEL BARRICK
You may be relieved to finally turn down your thermostat with the arrival of spring. But that doesn't mean you'll be paying less for home heating oil.
The average price for a gallon of oil in New Hampshire nudged past $4 for the first time ever last week, according to the state Office of Energy and Planning. That number has been steadily rising for months, and energy analysts, oil retailers and state officials say they're not predicting a drop anytime soon.
"We don't expect that much good news for the rest of this year," said Tancred Lidderdale, senior economist with the Energy Information Administration. "We expect heating oil prices, unfortunately, to be as high this (coming) winter, if not higher, than last winter."
As of last week, the average price of a gallon of home heating fuel stood at $4.03. That's up from $3.55 a gallon in March and $2.51 a gallon this time last year. The price increases have meant more unpaid bills for oil deliverymen, more requests for financial help from government aid programs and increased interest in alternative fuels.
"This is the worst we've seen," said Bill Fuller of Fred Fuller Oil Co. "You've got people calling and crying, and you feel bad and try to explain that it's not us. We're not the big guys, we're just the retailers."
Fuller said many customers are asking for smaller deliveries to keep their bills down. He's had customers request deliveries of as small as 20 gallons, but the company usually draws the line around 100 gallons per delivery.
Celeste Lovett, manager of New Hampshire's Fuel Assistance Program, said a record number of households - nearly 35,000 - received help from the state to pay fuel bills this winter. The average benefit was $600, and the neediest applicants received up to $975. But as the price per gallon reaches record highs, those one- time benefits don't cover as much of a winter's worth of bills as they did just a few years ago.
"I'm concerned that people may have outstanding balances with their fuel company that this program can't address," Lovett said. "It's not intended to pay all of the household's fuel costs. But the benefit doesn't stretch as far as it did in the past, so people may end up with a higher balance at the end of the year." ( more at link)
Maybe we could use this thread to keep an eye on these rising cost's as well.
At some point these cost's are going to have figures that catch up to what we are seeing at the gas pumps..am hearing a lot about natural gas being the way to go, but then again also info that contradicts this..
My one thought was that if folks can not fill up on oil/kero/propane etc to get through the winter, their only alternative left is electricity ( assuming they don't have fireplaces).
:scratch This has me thinking about how this will impact things..when folks resort to this as a 'solution", that we may see the grids overloaded by space heaters similar to the heat waves of summer with air conditioning....folks who can't afford fuel cost's will resort to electric alternatives for heating just to get by..
Any thoughts?
This article says that there is talk of reducing energy/heating assistance programs at the Federal level for this winter as well , to "save money"...
Am hearing the winter is supposed to be milder this year too but here we are in April and in PA we are supposed to see the mid to high 30's tonight..so the weather seems to have a mind of its own lately when it comes to cooperating with the "experts"...
Given the current news of the exponential rate of rising oil and gas cost's along side of food, etc..am thinking one does not have to be an expert at all to see what heating costs will be like this winter.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1370777/experts_say_heating_costs_will_stay_high/
By DANIEL BARRICK
You may be relieved to finally turn down your thermostat with the arrival of spring. But that doesn't mean you'll be paying less for home heating oil.
The average price for a gallon of oil in New Hampshire nudged past $4 for the first time ever last week, according to the state Office of Energy and Planning. That number has been steadily rising for months, and energy analysts, oil retailers and state officials say they're not predicting a drop anytime soon.
"We don't expect that much good news for the rest of this year," said Tancred Lidderdale, senior economist with the Energy Information Administration. "We expect heating oil prices, unfortunately, to be as high this (coming) winter, if not higher, than last winter."
As of last week, the average price of a gallon of home heating fuel stood at $4.03. That's up from $3.55 a gallon in March and $2.51 a gallon this time last year. The price increases have meant more unpaid bills for oil deliverymen, more requests for financial help from government aid programs and increased interest in alternative fuels.
"This is the worst we've seen," said Bill Fuller of Fred Fuller Oil Co. "You've got people calling and crying, and you feel bad and try to explain that it's not us. We're not the big guys, we're just the retailers."
Fuller said many customers are asking for smaller deliveries to keep their bills down. He's had customers request deliveries of as small as 20 gallons, but the company usually draws the line around 100 gallons per delivery.
Celeste Lovett, manager of New Hampshire's Fuel Assistance Program, said a record number of households - nearly 35,000 - received help from the state to pay fuel bills this winter. The average benefit was $600, and the neediest applicants received up to $975. But as the price per gallon reaches record highs, those one- time benefits don't cover as much of a winter's worth of bills as they did just a few years ago.
"I'm concerned that people may have outstanding balances with their fuel company that this program can't address," Lovett said. "It's not intended to pay all of the household's fuel costs. But the benefit doesn't stretch as far as it did in the past, so people may end up with a higher balance at the end of the year." ( more at link)
Maybe we could use this thread to keep an eye on these rising cost's as well.
At some point these cost's are going to have figures that catch up to what we are seeing at the gas pumps..am hearing a lot about natural gas being the way to go, but then again also info that contradicts this..
My one thought was that if folks can not fill up on oil/kero/propane etc to get through the winter, their only alternative left is electricity ( assuming they don't have fireplaces).
:scratch This has me thinking about how this will impact things..when folks resort to this as a 'solution", that we may see the grids overloaded by space heaters similar to the heat waves of summer with air conditioning....folks who can't afford fuel cost's will resort to electric alternatives for heating just to get by..
Any thoughts?
This article says that there is talk of reducing energy/heating assistance programs at the Federal level for this winter as well , to "save money"...
Am hearing the winter is supposed to be milder this year too but here we are in April and in PA we are supposed to see the mid to high 30's tonight..so the weather seems to have a mind of its own lately when it comes to cooperating with the "experts"...