Total Energy News and Insights

There is a Strong Chance of a Weak La Nina This past winter we experienced one of the strongest El Nino's the planet has ever seen and it brought with it a much warmer than average winter. This was a nice rest for many homeowners after the past two winters that brought exceptionally cold weather and snow. Since the El Nino has ended meteorologists have been looking to see if a La Nina will arrive. La Nina is the cousin or sister of El Nino. Which is caused by the warming of water in the pacific ocean, La Nina is caused by the cooling of water in the pacific ocean. La Nina's have three different strengths weak, moderate, and strong and each has varying effects on the weather here in the Northeast. By all accounts we are looking at a strong chance of a weak La Nina starting in the Fall or Winter. A weak La Nina brings cool or colder area to the Northeast more inline with a traditional winter. It looks like we will also have to deal with more snow in the second have of the se...

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 w...

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 ...

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. ...

After the Winter that never wanted to end, it seemed like we had a summer that didn't want to stick around. Hopefully you haven't had to fire up your heating system, but one things is for sure aside from this past weekend the temperatures sure have been chilly in the morning. Well now that Fall is in full swing it's time to prepare for Winter.  The big question is, will it be as bad as last year? The best answer is probably, The Old Farmers Almanac  is predicting that we will have just as bad or worse of a winter as last year.  With temperatures just as cold and the same or more snow.  This being New England it shouldn't come as a surprise that we'd have a harsh winter.  However the possibility of a strong El Nino would have given New Englander's a break from Winter's Wrath.  Recent models point to a mild late El Nino year, which historically brings a cold and wet winter to the Northeast. There were reports in the spring about ...