people are cheating on oil contracts and buying the fuel else where rather than buying in their lock

Yea I suppose the customer is obligated to buy fuel from the contract at that price but they never say "the minimum: With that in mind they could just buy some and when no one is looking have the other guy fill his tank. Whoopsie we just keep the stat way down and don't use much. Those contracts don't forbid you from buying some from someone else either, at least the ones I have been involved in. Don't let your hearts bleed for those oil dealers with the contracts too much.
Here is what the local boys have been doing. For years the largest dealer around here has hosted the "Co op". They always fulfilled their commitments but had one very annoying habit. They just loved to come and fill your tank just after the April contract date was passed. This has happened to at least 10 people that I know of so just imagine how much its gone on. Just a little robbery there and they did it to very many people I know for many years. I have always opted out of scheduled delivery and just call when I need oil. It seems this is a very smart way to get your oil doesn't it? Now this local outfit has modified their plan this year with another wrinkle. You get to pay 175 just to belong rather than the 20 bucks to the local charity. Lots of people went for this just for the assurance of being protected from the $5.00+/ gallon oil that was predicted. I took a look at that contract and threw it in the trash where it belonged. Even now their cash delivery price is still too damned high.
My advice for anyone with oil delivery of any type is to buy a locking cap. Keep it locked and that way no one can take oil out or put it in without your specific permission. Remember, at the end of the day and in spite of the baloney it is STILL YOUR HOUSE. Take charge of it. Better yet burn wood, pellets, or corn so you don't need much of or any of the stuff.

The big trucking companies usually buy fuel at a negotiated price. The contracts usually run six months or longer. The ones who had to renegotiate just before prices started to fall are really hurting while those who's agreements are up now are getting much better pricing... it's a game, no doubt.

Sure, it's a game . . . but I doubt anyone who has locked for prices of $2.50/gallon in the past, then seen the price climb to $3.50 offered to redraw the terms of their contract to reflect current market value. Locking in prices is a gamble - it's just typically been to a homeowner's advantage in the past.

My oil company does that same thing, filling up your tank after the heating season is over. I'm looking forward to not seeing that astronomical bill as much this winter.

Prebuy is a gamble. What do you think the oil company paid per gallon when they prebought your fuel? If the price went to $10.00 a gallon this winter would you feel bad and pay the diff.?
Suck it up, you signed a legal binding contract.

I agree with you Driz. The dealers do some underhanded stuff to gouge their loyal customers. I am capped at 3.29p/g, I recently got a delivery and they charged me .19. My friend had bought oil for 2.99 two weeks before and the price of oil dropped, but my "discount" was 3.19p/g. I'm not as pissed as my friend who pre-bought without a cap at 3.79p/g, but remember, I paid 150.00 for the priviledge of the cap, and am supposed to be charged the "going rate" for the day of delivery, yet they still overcharge even their long time customers. I'm certainly glad I got my new insert!

I'd love to cancel my contract but of course I am locked in til the spring. Next year I will just get it from the lowest seller as I will probably need only a couple of hundred gallons to get me throught the entire year; thanks to the new insert I also like your idea of finding a local guy to do the tune up. I don't mind speculating and losing, I do have a problem when my company puts the screws to me!

Don't have a contract but .......
Have never been that fast in pulling the plug when I realized that my usual delivery guy charged me .90cents more than the market price.
Got involved now with a discount supplier and quite happy.
Nevertheless due to the pellet stove, I'm ready for the next increase.
Let's just hope that the pellets prices don't rise that fast either.

Yardley,
I think your last post was right on the money. In our cases we are dealing with specific oil dealers giving us a raw deal. However next year, we're all going to reap the benefits of burning wood and hopefully we'll eventually wean ourselves from the oil companies. I seen a recent article in the Hartford Courant, and it discussed how oil, gas, propane etc are all dependent upon one another. One may fall and others rise over the short term, they are all cyclical . Low prices for oil right now means nothing if those crazy bastards who attacked India have more surprises up their sleeves. That would surley panic the world oil market, and mark my words, prices will go up.
Enjoy your homegrown heat!
Rick

You would have to look at your contract. Does it state anywhere they are the ONLY place you can buy oil ?
I bet it ONLY states you can buy oil for a certain price...
If you get oil elsewhere, what can they do ?
Does it state in the contract any "lawsuits over this contract will be bore by the contract holder"?
If no, then it would cost the oil company several hundred to sue you.
For what, a lost customer, or several, or maybe a few hundred lost customers.
I can see half of these "stuck" customers buying oil elsewhere.
I waited and got my 150 gal. of oil I use per year at $2.69
Glad I waited...

My contract states that I will buy all of my oil from them until May1,2009. I signed a contrac for 550 gallons, If I get it delivered from aother dealer would break my contract and I will still have to buy the 550 gallons. Not get any benefit from the Cap payment I made of 150.00, but with the new stove I know I won't even come close to burning 550.00 gallons of fuel within the next 12 months. (my furnace burns to heat my hot water during the summer months) At the end of this contract season is when I drop the bomb that I no longer want to do business with them because they were overcharging me on my oil deliveries even though I had bought insurance with them that I would only pay the market rate of the day my house was delivered to. Hopefully the northeast has enough trees to keep us wam and happy well into the future
Rick

The insulation is a great idea. Always pays for itself within a few years. I'm not so sure about that hot water thing though. In CT the cost of electricity had been going through the roof. 71% one year and 12% more withing 6 months. Now that the other utlities are down do you thikthat electricity will come down? I have never known it to fluctuate, except for up.. And they got you by the stones unless you got a windmill or something else! I got a hot tub outside and and I watched the cost of unning that thing jump to about 80 bucks per month when my original cost at insallation was about 35 bucks per month. Neighbors of mine recently talked of doing the same thing. I have never plotted out the math, but to swich to electrical anything is a foreign concept to me.
I hope that I'm wrong and you are enjoying some reilief. Please let me know.
RIck

my dad prebought his oil at $4.25 a gallon, then the price dropped, he asked and they wanted $500 to get out of the contract. finaly since he has been a customer for 25 years or so they let him buy the downside protection for another 20 cents at gallon ( in September), much better to keep a customer than loose one .

Driz said:

Better yet burn wood, pellets, or corn so you don't need much of or any of the stuff.

Click to expand...

Right on Driz

Two weeks before the pellet stove came- we had to buy oil to get us thru 100- gallons for $400. We are so glad we didnt buy anymore than that at the time. We will buy 50 gallons at a discount in January{brother drives an oil truck}, and then will no longer burn oil starting next year. If we cant change the furnace over to pellets,then we will sell it very reasonable to someone just starting out..as we want the space in the cellar..

kinda off topic but not really, my wife and i were getting ready to make our september trip to myrtle beach the weekend after labor day. gas was running locally at about 3.30 /gal. i forget exactly what happened but for some reason it sparked a run on gas stations as we were trying to get out of town. gas went from 3.30 to 4.89/gal within hours . there were literally cops at every gas station directing traffic in and out as folks ran to fill their tanks before the gas shot up (looked like 1974 out there) i ended up topping off (needed about a half tank to replace what the wife ran out runnning around that morning to get stuff we needed done before we left. topped off at 4.89/gal

i had heard the president had made a statement that day a few hours after the prices shot up that companies gouging customers would be prosecuted, and majically the gas prices dropped right back to 3.30 a gallon by the time we hit myrtle beach 6 hours later.

that told me all i needed to know about whether to feel sory for the gas industry is concerned. he gas they bumped up a buck and a half a gallon obviously wasnt bought at the higher rate it was already in the tanks at the stations. the actual price they would have had to pay for the next shipment apparantly had not shot up for them either or they would not have turned right around and lowered it back to what it was previously.

i know folks who had their oil companies come out in the late summer and offer rates or mail out flyers which stated in clear terms that heating oil DEFINATELY would be doubled in price by the time the heating season started. not "may be" but "would be" to coerce homeowners through fear to sign these contracts.personally i believe contracts should be honored , but why is it that the big buisnesses who are holding contracts JUST AS VALID ie. bad morgages and such, are getting bailed out using our money while the average homeowner who gets stuck in the same situation (albiet on a smaller scale until you look at the sheer number of homeowners in this situation) is getting no help.for this reason i have no pity for the oil companies who arent getting fat on oil sales under contract when homeowners buy elsewhere.

i smile every time i hear or read about someone who burned gallons and gallons of fossil fuels in previous years and buy one of my products or any of the others in the industry and post how much its cutting their heating cost. what this will do if enough folks partake of hearth products for heating will force the fossil fuel companies to have to be more fair in their pricing in order to COMPETE which will be better for the percentage of homeowners who cannot use hearth products due to physical conditions and other constraints (face it , not everyone can cut wood or even carry stack and load in a woodstove)

bottom line is i feel a lot sorrier for the poor homeowner who essentially got driven into these contracts than i do for the oil companies who feel cheated when someone buys outside of their contract because of the way they were coerced into them.

I know one thing, there will be millions of gallons of #2 heating oil not purchased this winter in the Northeast. And I for one am helping out. I just wonder how the oil companies can judge usage this year with all the pellets sold, it should be interesting.

It's not necessary that any person that burns oil ever sign a heating oil contract of any kind. If you think you may regret the terms of a contract down the road, don't sign one.

I've managed to burn oil just fine by calling whoever has the lowest price when my tank is 1/4 full. They arrive 2 dayls later, I give them a check, and they give me my oil. Kind of like just about everything else I buy.

Do you also sign contracts for next year's groceries, clothing, and gasoline?

Why not? How ever do retailers for these items function without "knowing their demand?"