Don’t buy your heating oil …
or your propane just yet!

The US Fed just released insider details on the inventory for barrels of raw home heating oil/fuel and it looks GREAT for consumers.

The big “speculators” that ran the prices up last year are in for a bit of a panic…

Because there’s truck loads of home heating oil and propane inventory getting stacked up on at the docks here in the US right now.

That means LOTS of supply and still LOW demand.

The price of a raw barrel dropped 3% today and that dropped the price to home owners by a whopping 1 penny a gallon.

So freakin’ what!

Well according to the #’s the inventory is so high that  the expectation is the price is going to tumble down any were from 40-50%

Yep… looks like the price is going to fall like a rock so my suggestion is to wait for a few a bit  and get some decent prices.

At least that’s what my crystal ball says

Stay warm, stay safe and save money.

John

WANTED Good, Honest, Fair Heating Oil and Propane Companies.

And I’m willing to pay YOU $100.00 for every heating company that signs up on the homeheatingoilprices.com site.

Here’s how it works.

It cost’s companies only $1 for the first 30 days to try us out. Month 2 and for as long as they stay it’s only $99.00  a month for them to get in front of millions of people.

And I’m willing to give you $100 for every heating company you get to sign up for at least 2 months.

That’s right you get 100 bucks!

All you need to do is contact your company (any heating company really) and tell them to try us out for only one dollar and when they do just have them mention your name.

If they stay for the full 2 months I send you a $100 check.

It’s that easy.

Any questions just give me a shout.

Stay safe, stay warm and save money.

John

Q – So whaaa’s up with the propane prices John… how come I’m having a tuff time finding propane prices listed on the site?

I hear you and you’re not going to believe it!

1st off we get millions of page views on this site from people just like you searching to buy propane. You’d think a honest straight forward propane company would be anxious to get in front of you and make you an offer in order to gain more customers right?

That’s what I thought too…

So off I went calling propane companies and offering them a chance to try the site out for a whopping $1.00 (one dollar for a full 30 days PLUS a full money back guarantee after 60 days) to see if it would work for them.

Pretty reasonable would’nt you think?

Here’s what happened…  No one wanted to try it out.

I couldn’t understand it.

I dug deeper and this is what I found

Some propane companies have differnet prices for differnet customers. YUP and it’s not what you think!

If you’re a new customer or you’re thinking about it they make you great offers to get your business. In other words they drop their prices to get you in. BUT once you’ve been a  customer for a while they jack up your prices and you end up paying through the nose.

So because of this poor version of  “propane marketing” some of these propane companies refused to post their prices on line or even to have their company listed.

Now look…  I’m a marketing guy and I get the concept of an “irresistable offer” to get new customers. BUT COME ON!

The way I see it is you take care of your long term customers you don’t wack them! There’s other ways to promote your company with out taking advantage of your old customers and it’s better for the consumer and the company.

Bottom line…. many companies in the industry dont want to EXPOSE their prices in fear off pissing off their old tried and true customers.

—————————————–

So in my opinion the companies that list their prices online are true, honest, decent companies that we need to spend our money with. EVEN IF their prices are a little higher at least you know what they are and what you’re getting and you know they treat customers right.

YEA I may have just signed my death warrent in the propane industry but hey… if they used a little imagination and really thought about what they could do to help their customers things would be a lot different don’t you think?

Some great companies in some areas are taking up the torch and setting themselves apart in the industry and are begining to post prices online.

In the mean time I’m calling companies directly and posting their prices so either way the you and I will get the information wether I call or you call. Besides, one way or another if a company wants to sell propane they need to tell us what their prices are.

In my opinion 1 price makes more sense. After all once the older tried and true customer finds out that the lil ol’ sneakey propane company is playing with prices… that’s a sure bet that that tried and true customer will feel used and abused and will bail out on that company so fast that the CEO’s head ul’ spin.

So what’s your take?

P.S. I’m adding prices and doing the best I can to keep up so if you have any info I’m happy to post it.

You just overpaid on your propane. If you just received a bill from your propane company I’d certainly be giving it a second look.In the last few weeks I’ve been hearing from people all over the country asking about the price of propane and what seems to be some sleazy practices by some not so honorable propane companies.

Are these companies crooks?

You can decide… just keep reading.

Mark contacted me questioning the price of propane in his area. I dug in e-mailed him my suggestion and here’s his response…

Hello again John: I wanted to bring you up to date on the saga of out-of-sight propane prices charged to us. I called 3 other vendors for proposals. Suburban gave me a price of $1.58 / gallon. Amerigas gave me a price based on a wholesale price of $1.040 / gallon and a margin over cost of $.80 for a total of $1.84 / gallon. All this just blows me away when compared to the $5.889 price on my last Ferrell Gas fill up. I did call them to give them a chance to do right by us since we have been long time customers but they don’t seem especially interested. A woman in the office that I talked to said she was going to give our case to her manager who would get back to me. That was Thursday. I still haven’t heard from them.

Thanks again John. Take care. M M, Twin Palms

Just heard from Darlene in Southern Pennsylvania… worried about Amerigas in her neighborhood. I also received some emails from customers of Suburban all wondering if they’re getting gouged too.

If anyone wants to get historical price data, I may have your area. Please contact me and I’ll check and send you the information.

Sorry to say Heating Companies are not created equal (like every company) and what they tell you might be a crock of… … I’ll let you fill in the blank.

In fact please check out Propane firms playing fair in ct to see just how “TRUTHFUL” some propane companies can be in CT.

The writer of the article is George Gombossy who goes by “the watch dog” here in CT. You need to check out his blog www.courant.com/ctwatchdog. Don’t worry I’ll also be adding The Watch Dog to our consumer protection page later tonight.

Your best bet is to make some quick calls around your immediate area to get a “fair sense” of the prices. Or you can visit us at www.HomeHeatingOilPrices.com for updates including weekly price averages for most of the country.

Be really careful. Some companies over paid on their inventory so their stuck with higher priced inventory and they may be charging the higher price to get themselves out of a bad buying decision regardless of what the current “todays” price might be.

Unfortunately it seems like these creeps are sticking it to their long time loyal customers hoping they don’t get found out. That’s one of the reasons why we suggest people leave reviews on the site and rank their companies to protect other consumers from getting caught in a mess.

Stay safe, stay warm and save money.

John

P.S. There are GOOD propane companies out there… it’s just that sometimes it take a little looking to find the good guys.

If you’re feeling a little paranoid, that’s a good thing.

If you want to feel better,  I was able to get 10% of for my readers at life lock…  Go have a look

Just in… The weather here in New England, especially in Maine is FRIDGED.

Direct from the portland press

Emergency act waives rules for delivery of heating fuel — Drivers will be allowed to stay on the road longer to supply Mainers with oil and propane

Bottlenecks in the East Coast’s propane delivery network have tightened supplies of the fuel that can be used for heating, even as the region dives further into subzero temperatures.

That means the gov has given the OK to let these drivers stay out longer to fill up tanks so people won’t go cold.

What that also means… these poor souls (who are already pushed during the busy season) will get pushed some more. Now remember these people don’t just drive they actually pile out of the truck and deliver. That means they get tired faster and being on the road longer means a greater chance of accidents.

Hey if it’s just heating oil, the flammable temp is pretty high so it’s not going to explode. The flash point of heating oil is so low you could essentially be driving a truck full of fire wood.

Now PROPANE on the other hand has a wicked flash point… Think of the homes that blew up in Jersey a bit ago when there was a small propane leak that ignited and turned homes to matchsticks.

Now we have these propane bombs on wheels tooling around the highways and neighborhoods with skilled hard working (read TIRED) guys making their delivery’s.

Is it really necessary to keep people warm?

Is there another way to make sure that people don’t go with out or is it a political gambit to get some press during the heating season?

If the companies are delivering and filling up there’s no way a person is going to go through a full tank (even the smaller tanks) of fuel in a week.

Take a heating oil tank for example… the smallest are 250 gallons. A standard burner runs through a gallon – 1.5 in an hour (approximate) and the furnaces don’t run 24 hours a day.

Lets do the math… Burner runs even in this harsh cold… 12 hours / day * 1.5 gallons / hr = almost 14 days (2 full weeks) on 250 gallons.

That’s 2 weeks between fill ups with the premise that the burner will run 12 hours a day. Fact is 250 gallons will last most people 30 days.

Are you willing to put these drivers lives in danger and yours too?

This is a necessary step to ensure that during the prolonged deep freeze, people and businesses get timely heating fuel deliveries,” said Gov. John Baldacci in declaring a state of emergency on Friday.

I’ll bet that the people in Maine will be paying higher prices then the rest of the country, especially when they make public this little ditty…

disrupted when a tanker ship bound for the terminal had a collision at sea, Linton said. The ship had to be taken to a port and off-loaded, and Newington got a smaller delivery, late.

What’s the real deal mainers?

I’ve been able to dig up the wholesale prices (what your heating company pays for the fuel you buy) for heating oil and natural gas. I expect to be adding the price of propane shortly and I’m working on a kerosene price as well.

Normally most COD heating oil companies work on a .50 – .75 cent gross margin for profit. That means

when they resell the fuel to you they add that amount to their cost. Remember that’s their GROSS. Remember their expenses have to be added to their cost as well. In other words the company isn’t pocketing the full .50 – .75 into their pocket.

On the Full service heating oil side, these guys tack on even more profit to stay afloat. The reason is a convoluted way most look at running their business.

Here’s what I mean. Full service companies offer "full service" which means they have the service guys and all the expenses associated with that separate business. BUT what these guys end up doing is instead of charging what they should be charging for the service work, they work at a loss and subsidize that part of their business with money from the sale of fuel.

That means they end up adding the extra profit they need to cover those expenses to what they charge you for heating oil. Personally that doesn’t make sense to me. Especially now that COD’ers are working on slimmer margins because of lower overhead and are scooping up money conscious consumers like crazy.

BAD NEWS is, if you’re buying from a COD’er that doesn’t offer service and your system goes down and you’re in trouble. EXCEPT if your COD’er has another company to cover you. That’s not fool proof either. Just read the details in my ebook at www.heatingoilhelp.com

Now propane is a different animal.

Since it costs a whole lot more to get into the propane business there’s less competition and these guys work on much higher profits.

I’ve seen companies mark it up $2-$5 at retail!  YIKES!

FYI finally these fuel companies are realizing the power of the internet … just this week we picked up almost 2 dozen.

Stay safe, stay warm and save money

John

Do you have any questions?

Here’s your opportunity to ask!

Ask your question via the "leave a comment" section below and I’ll do my best to answer it as quickly as possible.

Stay safe, stay warm and save money.
John

Don’t believe me?

Check out what happened when this band of pirates grabbed this oil tanker.

News | Africa – Reuters.com

Sure the USA has all sorts of arms and ships but who really has the power and why?

Think the Saudis.

Think the "eye for an

eye" we don’t mess around mentality of … So you want to play? Well we will PLAY! attitude the terrorists and the rest of the world embrace.

Just look at the new Russia?

Wasn’t long ago on 60 minutes the big gun in the Saudi "tribe" was out driving himself all over Dubai with no body guards. Just try that any of you more "civilized" world players.

Ever wonder why he can drive freely with no guards? Because he may not necessarily have the biggest stick. BUT he certainly is not afraid to use the stick he has.

Think about that for a second. Lets do a hypothetical here. 

If you had a group that would go out and do your dirty work, like blow up bombs, assassinate people, take out who you want to take out regardless of who it is… you could do it with something as simple as a knife, or by hand. The people know if you’re going to play, that you mean business.

If that’s you’re mind set you sure don’t need a battleship to get your point across.

The ability to pull the trigger and what’s more important is that your enemy’s know you will not hesitate is the real power.

Tim Larkin of Target Focused Training has a nice explanation of what he calls Social vs. Asocial violence.

Have a look and you’ll see what I mean
http://www.targetfocustraining.com/blog/2008/11/socialasocial-why-bother.html

So tell me when push came to shove… in order to get that ship free with no ransom what do you think happened and who do you think has the real power?

Stay warm, save money and stay safe.

John

Just read a post from a woman in Ontario

http://blog.triciaswaterdragon.com/2008/12/02/change-oil-tank-or-change-over-to-gas-heating-which-would-you-do/

Get this…  her insurance company said make a change in your oil tank or else… and the nice gas guys (and the gov) offered a nice rebate once she rolled over to gas.

Really bad move and I’ll tell you why…

Fact is gas doesn’t burn as hot as oil. The BTU’s just are not there for gas like they are with oil. So you get more actual "heat" from oil and it actually feels warmer. (more details at www.heatingoilhelp.com ).

Couple things… Gas is EXPLOSIVE oil is not. Oil is combustible but  not explosive. BIG difference.

New German study show oil burn cleaner then gas, less of a carbon footprint.

You know what your paying and you can shop around for oil. Better yet the heating oil industry is highly competitive on price. (believe it or not) You can get into the heating oil business cheap so in most cases you have lots of businesses looking for customers (lots of supply) so price is very competitive.

Just check out www.HomeHeatingOilPrices.com and you’ll see the wholesale prices these companies pay for heating oil and propane fuel. The margins on heating oil are significantly lower then the gas profits these guys are rakin’ in.

To their defense it costs big bucks to get into the gas business. It’s a great barrier of entry for the competition so once your in you’ve got a strong guarantee of a hefty profit.

Consider the gas coming into your home… Just go and try changing your gas company. GOOD LUCK!

So purely from a consumer perspective I like choice in vendors not monopolies.

The bad news is these gas companies use the old razor blade marketing ploy. Lets give you the real nice handle for free and we’ll keep selling you the blades over and over again at big time profit.

Another analogy would be printers. I have an HP. Nice printer great price. BUT they slam me on buying new ink cartridges. ( Here’s where I save 80% on ink and Get Free Shipping on all orders over $49.99)

The gas company is using the same marketing strategy so gas buyer beware. Go OIL!

Stay safe, stay warm and save money

John

P.S. this is purely if you have a choice.

In many parts of the country you’re out of luck its either electric or gas. In that case GO PROPANE cause the electric bill will eat you alive.

And you thought the Somali pirates were makin’ the big hit.

Business or homeowner I’d be lockin’ up my propane tank starting today.

Propane Bandits Sought
Posted on Sunday, November 30 by Barnaby Pedge

Over the past few months thieves have been running off with propane tanks belonging to Grand Valley businesses. Crime Stoppers needs your help finding the suspect or suspects who stole about 70 propane tanks from 6 different businesses.

Police say the tanks were stolen from Waste Management, Alco, Diamond Shamrock and a few other locations. Authorities say they don’t have any leads in the investigation but they say a man driving a newer, silver Jeep Liberty was seen during one of the thefts.

If you have any information about Crime Stoppers at 241-STOP. There’s a $1,000 for any information leading to an arrest.

Propane PIRATES Sought – Local News – News : Grand Junction, Colorado

Stay safe stay warm and save money

John