I'm Saving Money - Are You?

[Shortstuff]

While I was out this morning our fuel oil company came and filled us up. Normally we take an average of 150 gallons this time of year but this time it only took 48.9 gallons. And I noticed that the tank guage showed the highest level (when full) than it ever has which tells me he was expecting my tank to take more fuel and he tried putting more in than normal which put a BIG smile on my face.

I also took notice that they charged us 3.229 per gallon! We locked in just last month at $3.789 which is the highest they can charge us per gallon for the next year. I checked and found that the lowest price advertised locally for fuel oil today is $2.120 and the highest locally is $2.799, so I called my fuel oil company and asked them why I was charged such a high price and they told me that $3.229 is their rate today. Needless to say I'm not a happy camper and there's nothing I can do about it. This oil company charges people like myself who have been a faithful customer a higher rate than a new customer. Unfortunately if I cancel their contract I have to pay a $399.00 Early Termination Fee.

By the way the name of the oil company is Petro.

I then updated my spreadsheet for our fuel oil usage since we bought this house back in 1995 and we have paid a total of $19,245.46 for fuel oil since we moved here.

We are only using our Castile to heat 820 sq.ft. of our 2,150 sq.ft. heated floor space which leaves 1330 sq.ft. still heated by our fuel oil burner. But we've already cut our fuel oil usage by approximately 66% our first fill up using our pellet stove, which means we are already benefiting from our purchase.

Have any other new pellet stove owners already noticed an advantage?

Happy Heating!

Steve

 

[swalz]

Haven't had to run my boiler for heat this year at all, still ues for hot water. Hoping to have enough money to change out the system next year and add a tankless electric water heater. I have not filled my tank since May and have not reached the 150 gallon requirement that a lot of oil comapnies want before they will fill. I have been heating my 2400SF home with my Harman XXV and two electric space heaters in the bedrooms and my electric bill has also went down. I need to fix leaky valves on the pipes from the boiler and waiting on a freind that is a plumber to have time to fix. Made the mistake of tuning them now they are leaking, so right now I have no backup heat.

 

[richkorn]

if I cancel their contract I have to pay a $399.00 Early Termination Fee.

That might be illegal, cell phone companies were forced to relax that termination price. You might want to contact state attorney's office to see if oil company can legally bind you to that termination price. They ripped you off at that price/gal.

 

[krooser]

My natural gas bill for the last two months was less tha $65.00 and I heat my water with gas. My normal bill would be around $125.00 to $175.00 depending on temp, of course.

My house is WARM... my wife would sit in a 65deg. room 'cuz she hated to pay a $350.00 heating bill in Jan/Feb.

 

[Dougsey]

While I was out this morning our fuel oil company came and filled us up. Normally we take an average of 150 gallons this time of year but this time it only took 48.9 gallons. And I noticed that the tank guage showed the highest level (when full) than it ever has which tells me he was expecting my tank to take more fuel and he tried putting more in than normal which put a BIG smile on my face.

I also took notice that they charged us 3.229 per gallon! We locked in just last month at $3.789 which is the highest they can charge us per gallon for the next year. I checked and found that the lowest price advertised locally for fuel oil today is $2.120 and the highest locally is $2.799, so I called my fuel oil company and asked them why I was charged such a high price and they told me that $3.229 is their rate today. Needless to say I'm not a happy camper and there's nothing I can do about it. This oil company charges people like myself who have been a faithful customer a higher rate than a new customer. Unfortunately if I cancel their contract I have to pay a $399.00 Early Termination Fee.

By the way the name of the oil company is Petro.

I then updated my spreadsheet for our fuel oil usage since we bought this house back in 1995 and we have paid a total of $19,245.46 for fuel oil since we moved here.

We are only using our Castile to heat 820 sq.ft. of our 2,150 sq.ft. heated floor space which leaves 1330 sq.ft. still heated by our fuel oil burner. But we've already cut our fuel oil usage by approximately 66% our first fill up using our pellet stove, which means we are already benefiting from our purchase.

Have any other new pellet stove owners already noticed an advantage?

Happy Heating!

Steve

Try calling them from a cell phone or work and ask what their cash price is today. If it's a lot less that what they charged you, I would offer them a chance to make it right before you call the AG's office.

 

[JBlank912]

I had a similar experience. They delivered on auto delivery, also locked in for contract reasons. They delivered 49 gallons rather then the usual 200 gal. We are heating most of our home. One room is closed off and thermostat set to 55deg there. The stove handles the rest of the house well even at 15 deg outside. Savings, even if calculate in the pellets used, $500 for just this fill up.

 

[Lobstah]

Some of the dealers, especially smaller ones, are stuck in the same place you are, being that THEY signed a contract for X amount of oil at X amount of $$$.
As I've said in other threads, blame the speculators. They caused this problem by artificially impacting supply by locking up huge amounts of oil. That's what drove the price up in the first place. We're still suffering the impact of that. Prices have gone down because the crash flushed the speculators out of the market.

Jim

 

[ablejoy]

I have saved about $250.00 in propane since using the new pellet stove. We have not used the furnace at all and the propane is used for heating water and cooking. Hoping I won't need propane this winter. House is 71 degrees right now and is sitting on low setting. Love it used 10 bags so far. Bought 2 tons last year at a great price.

 

[Doocrew]

First year burning. I used about 900 gallons of heating oil last year. If fuel oil stays at todays prices, I would have spent about $2200 on oil this year. Instead, I purchased 3 tons of pellets at $239 in June. I will still use oil as a backup and for hot water, but if I can cut my oil consumption by a conservative 50% I will be way ahead of the game. The burner is only kicking on for hot water right now, so I am hoping to use a tank or less. If that is the case, my consumption will be reduced by 75% instead of 50%. Regardless, if I keep one dollar from OPEC I will be happy. It is going to take a few years of savings to offset the cost of the stove but it will be money well spent. I too, have noticed the electric bill is lower. I guess it takes a lot more electric to turn the circulator than it does the pellet stove.

 

[Shortstuff]

I've gone over my numbers and realistically we have saved $194.49 so far:

- Normally 150 gallons @ $3.229 per gallon = $484.39, but only needed 48.9 gallons @ $157.90 = a savings of $326.49.

- $326.49 - $132.00 (1/2 ton of pellets used so far - including shipping cost) = $194.49 actual saving so far.

Obviously it's too early to tell, but by these numbers and the past fuel usage numbers over the last 13 years, we're looking at approximately a $200.00 per fill-up savings - perhaps $1,000.00 gain per winter. That means 3 to 4 years to recoup our total pellet stove costs. I can live with that.

Happy Heating!

Steve

 

[DiggerJim]

Unfortunately if I cancel their contract I have to pay a $399.00 Early Termination Fee.

Check your contract, you may have an out. A lot of the contracts have some wording buried in there about charging a "competitive" price. If you do, then you can bail without the termination fee because they've broken the contract's price clause. It just happened to a bunch of propane customers in CT when it came out that they were getting charged 50-300% more than the market rate for their propane fills (in CT the owner of the tank - usually the propane company - is the only one who can legally fill the tank so you can't shop for better prices). They had similar termination clauses in their contracts but had the competitive price wording in them as well...the AG said that trumped the termination clause and ordered the companies to allow the contract cancellations without penalty.

 

[Shortstuff]

I checked very thoroughly and it appears that they conveniently left the "competitive pricing" part out of their contract.

Not a problem, they won't be delivering much to us this year anyway.

Steve

 

[trogers]

I had 615 gallons of propane delivered from 5/23/07 through 11/29/07, which at today's cost would be $1553.00

So far this year from 5/7/08 through 11/18/08 I have had 253 gallons delivered at a cost of $527.00. If I factor in the 35 bags of pellets used so far at $195.00 this leaves me with savings of a measly $831.00!

I'm a "second guesser" by nature, and I suffer from buyer's remorse on pretty much every large purchase...but, not this one. I paid around $5,800 dollars for propane last year. At this pace, I can assume about $1950.00 in savings this year, which will return my investment in two years...and, that's if propane prices don't go up!

I am officially removing my propane dealer from my Christmas card list!