First Heating Bill of the Season
Post viewed 559 times, 2 so far today
Last year, when I got our first heating oil bill after the summer, I was pleasantly surprised that from May to October, we only used 27 gallons of oil! Sure, the usage of heating oil probably dropped to the minimum in the summer (not the electricity bill though
), but still 27-gallon was just a super low number.
Anyway, the last oil delivery we got was in June and the price we paid was $2.709/gallon. Last night, we received our first delivery of this season of 51.5 gallons. Though the quantity almost doubled what we consumed in the May to October period last year, it isn’t too bad considering that we already turned on the heat since early this month when the temperature dropped to around 50 degrees in the evening. Then, the price of the oil.
The price we paid in October 2006 was $2.459/gallon. This year, it goes up to $3.249 a gallon, an increase of 32% in a little over a year. Of course, we didn’t get any help from the $90+/barrel crude oil this time around. In fact, according to a recent Energy Information Administration projection, US households are expected to spend $339, or 22%, more on average on heating oil this winter than the last.

Last winter from October 25, 2006 to February 28, 2007, we used a total of 260 gallons of heating oil at the cost of $670. Since nobody was at home from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, we were able to set the temperature low during the day time. In the evening, we used two oil radiators to keep the bedrooms warm and other areas of the house relatively cold. All of these helped us reducing the total consumption of heating oil. This year, I don’t expect we will be using more oil. So even if the price is $1 higher than last year, the increase in total cost to stay warm this winter won’t have a material impact on our spending.
*Photo from abclocal.go.com.
Popularity: 13% [?]
If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed. You can also subscribe by email to have daily updates delivered right to your inbox.
Featured Financial Products
- Ready to buy stocks/ETF with zero commission? Check out the Zecco review and try Zecco Trading with these Zecco promotion codes to get 10 free trades/month.
- Seeking higher returns for your cash? Take a look at the latest interest rates from leading online banks and find out where to get the most for your money.
- Earn up to 5% cash back from these cash back credit cards while shopping at gas stations, grocery stores, or online.
Related Posts
- 27 Gallons of Oil for 5+ Months
- Save on Heating Oil, but Spend on Electricity
- CNNMoney: Six Ways to Save on Heating This Winter
- Reduce Your Heating Bill: Six Tips from SmartMoney
- October 2006 Score Card — Part I: Expenses
Readers Who Viewed This Post, also Viewed
- Time to Stock up Rice?
- Save on Heating Oil, but Spend on Electricity
- Reduce Your Heating Bill: Six Tips from SmartMoney
- Citi Upgrades My Dividend Platinum Card to Dividend World MasterCard
- About
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Pingback by Enviable Heating Bill, Big Life Decision, Frugal Gifting @ The Roundup on November 18, 2007 @ 11:36 am
- Pingback by The Sunday Review #46 on November 19, 2007 @ 2:53 am
- Pingback by Save on Heating Oil, but Spend on Electricity | The Sun’s Financial Diary | A Personal Finance Blog on Saving and Investing on January 10, 2008 @ 10:47 am
5 Comments
Share Your Thouhgts
Your opinion matters. Please use the form below to share your thoughts on First Heating Bill of the Season with us.Recent Entries
- Dow and S&P in Bear Market?
- Chinese ADRs Monthly Update - June 2008
- E*Trade Complete Savings Account now 3.30% APY
- June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- Weekend Linkage - June 29, 2008
- Discover More Card $100 Bonus Offer
- Make Hundreds of Dollars by Referring People
- Free Schick Quattro Titanium Razor/Trimmer
- Stocks Fell Like a Rock
- TradeKing Review and Promotion Codes: A Discount Broker with Loads of Features
- Early Termination Fees Slashed at T-Mobile
- Bank Dividend Yield Revisited
- Free iPod Nano for Opening KeyBank Student Checking Account
- Monday Deal: Western Digital 500GB External Hard Drive at $89.99
- Weekend Linkage - June 22, 2008
- So This is What Happened to Our Stimulus Payment
- WT Direct Increases Interest Rate to 3.26% APY
- Using Old Extensions (Add-ons) in Firefox 3
- International ETFs Suffer as US Stocks Plunge
- Got Our Economic Stimulus Payment, but
- Weekend Linkage - June 15, 2008
- ShareBuilder Starts to Offer ING Funds
- Poll: Who’s Your Favorite Broker?
- Economic Stimulus Payment Directly Deposited into IRA Accounts?
- ShareBuilder Promotion Codes for up to $90 Bonus for Costco Members




I definitely do not envy you there, I guess not paying a heating bill (well, directly anyways), is one of the benefits of living in a college dorm!
Hey man, 1975 called and wants your oil furnace back.
Just kidding. Seriously though, the last house I had with an oil furnace (Bush was president..not W though) the oil company I used had a budget plan where they set a price in the summer and you paid a fixed amount per month based on usage history. Was cheaper because summer prices were usually lower and the budget plan eliminated those bill generated by 250 gallon buys in the middle of winter.
You may want to start budgeting for a higher efficiency gas furnace. An off brand name (like Ducane) uses less energy and electricity to run than most oil furnaces and are relativly reasonable: $1000 for the furnace, that again for the install. Then you can thumb your nose at Hugo Chavez, at least until your car needs a fill-up.