Total Energy News and Insights

There is a lot that can go wrong with your house in the cold. Winter has arrived here in the northeast right on time compared to last year when it didn't show up at all and the year before that when it showed up a month late. When the cold weather comes so can a lot of problems around your house. As we know water freezes at 32 degrees, this can happen in your home even if you have the thermostat set at 50, 55, 60, or even 65.  The pipes that carry water throughout your home can freeze and cause a great deal of damage. The rate and chances of your pipes freezing depends on the inside temp and the outdoor temps and weather conditions. On a typical winter day where the temp is in the twenties or thirties as long as you keep your house somewhere in the 60's and have decent insulation you'll have a pretty low risk of any pipes freezing inside your home.  Once the temps start to drop in November you should close any outdoor water taps and bring in any hoses. Make sure to g

What is in Store for us this Winter? After this past winter where it started off very mild and finished with record setting snow and cold, we all want to know what the winter of 2015-2016 will be like. We've had about two to years now of fairly cold winters with decent amount of snow. If you look over the past decade you'll see patterns of very cold winters then followed by mild winters.  Depending on who you ask or where you get your information from, you could see that we'll be getting a mild winter because of a very strong El Nino, starting the mild winter pattern. While the Farmers Almanac is calling for us to get another nasty snowy cold winter, continuing the cold pattern. So who do we believe? In some cases you can believe both, to some extent.  While historically Strong El Nino's like the one that we are suppose to be getting have made the Northeast more mild, go back and remind yourself what 1997-1998 was like.  From all accounts this El Nino will be a

One for the Record Books This is past winter was one that was talked about at lengths, the mild start, the massive blizzards, frigged temperatures, and extreme market swings. What did that mean for you as a oil, propane, electric, and natural gas heating customer. Depending on where you fall, it meant a lot. Here in the Northeast we have one of highest percentage of home owners that heat primarily with oil heat, about 40%. This number has been dropping over the years as natural gas has been reaching more and more city and town streets. The price of oil had also been at unfriendly levels and climbing for years, without an help in sight. Until the floor dropped out of the oil market around November or so of 2014. Thanks to the increase price of the barrel the American Shale drillers were able to flood the market while OPEC stayed at their level of producing oil.  After years of the barrel being at, around, and above $100, it steadily dropped to $50-60 in the span of six months.

Looks like we have some nice weather to look forward to. source: www.WeatherChannel.com Raise your hand if your tired of the snow...okay everyone's hands are up.  From January 26th to February 21 everyone here in the Northeast got a weekly blast of snow with February 23 being the first Monday without snow in three weeks. With foot plus snow storm after foot plus snow storm and continuous sub freezing temperatures, we've had little time or help from mother nature to dig ourselves out from a record setting winter. Currently the weather channel is predicting that everyone here in New England will see an above average March, April, and May for temperature.  This is very welcomed after a solid three-four weeks of freezing temperatures and several days and nights of sub-zero temps.   With an average spring temperature of 42 degrees for Worcester and 46 for Providence, we should see even warmer temperatures than that if we'll have an above average spring.  That doesn&

If we follow last years trends, we'll have another cold January and February. December felt like a relatively warm month, especially over the past couple of days with temperatures almost hitting 60 on Christmas.  New Englander's were warned that we would have a colder and snowier than average winter, right now it doesn't look like it. When we compare last year's December to this year's, we're following a similar pattern set out from last year. This December so far has been warmer than 2013's, we still have about a week left to get us right on par with 2013 but it doesn't look like we'll get as cold.  In the five days that we've officially been in winter only one day's high stayed below freezing, the 21st. The 24th and 25th this year were uncharacteristically warm, when compared to the 34 and 21 degrees that we had last year. However in 2013, winter welcomed us with a balmy 53 and 63 degree days on the 21st and 22nd respectively.

Last year's winter is still fresh in our minds, and this year wouldn't be better. We all remember how cold, long, and miserable last year's winter was.  With several weeks hovering near zero degrees with days of brutal winds and of course the normal amount of snow. With cold temperatures lasting into March and April it seemed that we would never see the warmth of Spring and Summer.  Now here we are in September with morning temps in the 50's and high's only reaching the mid 70's, reminding us that Winter is right around the corner. A lot about this Winter has focused on the possibility of an El Nino happening, reports have varied in the chance of it happening and the severity.  Most recent reports are saying that we're going to have 60-65% chance of a weak El Nino toward the end of 2014. What that means is that we're expecting to have a winter as cold and snowy or worse than last years winter. That means another winter of high energy bills, wh