Total Energy News and Insights

How low can the price of Oil go? For many home heating oil customers the price of oil is a major factor when it comes to picking a company to use.  As the price of oil here in New England continues to trend downward as the global market receives more and more supply, now is a perfect time lessen the weight price contributes to picking a heating company. Think back to 2012-2013 when the price of home heating oil was about $2.00 more per gallon then what you can find today. Now think about what the average home burns per year, which varies around the region but usually is about 800 gallons. That means that two years ago could have spent 1,600 more than what you would pay now. That's a vacation or a couple of payments on a car, or a service plan for several years or another seasons worth of heating fuel.   With the price of heating oil as low as it is compared to past year the difference between a full service company and cod company is as vast as it always h...

Can your Oil Company Make Their Delivery As we get closer to Winter and snow begins to fall there are a couple of things your home heating company would like you to know.   We will work as hard as we possibly can to make your delivery regardless of the weather, but there are some conditions that make it nearly impossible for a delivery to be made. In the event of snow we would greatly appreciate a path to be shoveled or plowed to the fill pipe.  The hose that is used to make delivery weighs around 50lbs and is around 150ft long, walking through snow with the hose can make deliveries impossible or could lead to inquiry.  You also need to make sure that your fill pipe is clear of snow and ice, if the driver can't see or doesn't know where the pipe is they can't make a delivery. Another thing is that the delivery truck is wider than most vehicles. If the driver usually makes the delivery from the driveway, it would greatly help to have the driveway clea...

What do you expect when you need service on your heating system? It's the middle of the night in the middle of winter and you wake up to a freezing house, your first thought maybe "why isn't the heat on". So you check the thermostat, it reads that the temperature is much below what you set it at. Your next step is head downstairs and check the heating system. Come to find out it isn't running, what do you do? First check a few things. Does your tank have oil it? When the temperature drops you may begin to burn more fuel than you anticipated and a run out may be the culprit. Many full service companies will be able to deliver an emergency amount of fuel to get you through the night until a more substantial amount of fuel can be delivered. Has your emergency on/off switch been flipped for some reason? This can usually be found heading down to your basement or around the heating system itself. You can also hit the burner reset button once...

Are you ready for the cold weather? This past weekend we saw and felt the first glimpse of winter or at least the cold weather that is associated with it. A lot of people may have turned on their heat for the first time, if they hadn't already.  That begs the question, were or are you ready for the cold weather? When it comes to oil heated homes there are a few things to think about when you get ready for the heating season. First think back to last year, were you happy with the amount you ended up paying during the heating season. If you weren't happy there are a few things that you could do now to prepare.  Think back to when your heating system was last serviced or tuned-up. If it's been more than a year, this could be negatively effecting your heating system' s performance.  If your system was serviced but you weren't happy, maybe it's time to look into a new heating system. A new heating may not save you money a first but over time you will...

How do you get your Home Heating Oil and/or Propane For many homeowners life seems to get busier and busier without there ever being anymore time in the day. While at the same token some of us have a large amount of time and enjoy convenience. Other like to manage all aspects of their life. There are two types of home heating oil delivery that cater to these types of people. Will Call, this is for those who like to be in control of everything or just simply like to know exactly when they will be getting an oil delivery.  Many people who use will call for delivery try to plan out when to order oil in relationship with the market. While this can certainly work sometimes, for the most part trying to predict the market is unreliable. Take a look at the market over the last two years, you'll see prices ranging from $4+ to $2+ to below $2.  From November of 2014 to February of 2015 to March of 2015 there were steep price decreases, then a sudden price increase due the col...

Price vs Value One of the most tried and true statements ever made is, you get what you paid for. In my past job in the tire industry this was always true for 90k mile tires vs 40k mile tires for high the price. The same can be applied to your fuel provider.  Their are two types of oil providers that you can find out in the market, cash on delivery or COD and full service. COD companies take payment at the time of delivery of your oil and for the most part do not provide credit or payment terms. COD companies traditionally do not have a service department. So in the event that your heating system breaks down in the middle of the winter or your pipes freeze it may be difficult to find a company that will come out in the middle of the night.  COD companies, because they have less staff and therefore less overhead have much lower prices for oil deliveries. Now a full service company, is a company that offers payment/credit terms, 24 emergency service, automatic d...

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...