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Page added on December 22, 2014
Heating New England Homes: The Good And Bad News
Falling oil prices are perhaps nowhere more welcome than in northern New England, where most homes burn heating oil in their furnaces. But cheaper heating oil is refilling consumers’ pockets just as high electric prices are emptying them out.
For example, a heating oil truck delivers 600 gallons of heating oil every two weeks to an old, four-story brick building in Concord, N.H. At last year’s oil prices, each refill would have cost around $2,200. Right now, it’s more than $300 cheaper.
Since several apartments in this building share one furnace, the building’s owner, Leon Azniv, pays their heating bill, but he says he’s not exactly watching the commodities market.
“It’s on automatic delivery. The only time I find about it is when it doesn’t work!” Azniv says.
Well, he is saving money. The Energy Information Administration estimates that between the falling cost of oil and forecasts for a slightly milder winter, the average heating oil customer should save around $630 through the heating season.
Great news for anybody with an oil tank, right? Yes, but unfortunately there’s bad news out there for anyone with an electric meter. Electric rates across New England have jumped. That’s because while New England has dramatically expanded the number of natural gas plants powering the region, it has not built out the pipelines to supply those plants.
For some, bills are increasing by as much as 50 percent. Ryan Clouthier, who administers a low-income energy assistance program in southern New Hampshire, says for many, rising electric bills have gobbled up the savings.
“Some people will rely on electric heat to try to reduce their oil burden, so they might be putting electric heat on in just one or two rooms and heating that way for the winter,” he says.
Clouthier notes that the program has had 800 more applications for assistance this year than at the same time last year.
Cheaper oil could mean a reprieve from a different trend in New England: fuel switching.
“We have seen in the past few years a fair amount of market share disappear to alternatives like cordwood, wood pellets,” says Rob Stenger, owner of Simple Energy, a fuel oil dealer in Lebanon, N.H.
He notes that in all of the New England states, the number of homes heating with oil has fallen over the past decade, while wood, propane and natural gas are on the rise.
So will that slow down?
“People, they sort of get amnesia. The price goes up, they get discipline; the price goes down and they forget all about it,” Stenger says. “And I think … over the last decade, I think that the disciplines associated with using less have some real staying power.”
Stenger says customers he talks to say they expect higher prices to be just around the corner.
7 Comments on "Heating New England Homes: The Good And Bad News"
Nony on Mon, 22nd Dec 2014 12:18 pm
The Yankees did this to themselves. They hate coal. and are shutting down an operating nuke plant early. Yet they refuse to approve NG pipelines. So have fun paying Yanks.
Kenz300 on Mon, 22nd Dec 2014 12:40 pm
Energy efficiency saves energy and saves money…
Insulating and leak sealing older homes should be the first step to saving money and reducing energy use….. It is amazing what a little insulation can do to reduce your energy bills.
My local utility had a program where they came out and inspected your home (using one of those negative air pressure machines that they stick in the door opening) and then offered an estimate of the cost of repairs in the order of priority to do the most good and provide the most benefit.
The utility also offered to pay ½ the cost of certain repairs. This was a deal too good to pass up.
They came in and leak sealed around any ceiling opening (light cans and bath vents) and they also went up in the attic and sealed openings around any pipe or stack that came thru. Sealing these air leak points made a huge difference in the comfort of the home as well as reducing the monthly heating and air conditioning bills.
My utility bills dropped by 20% the following month.
Doing something as simple as switching to LED light bulbs makes a big difference. Making a decision to buy an energy efficient appliance or furnace may be more expensive up front but will save money in the long run.
The utility measured the amount of air leaking before and after the retrofits and provided the results.
Saving energy saves money…..
Too many people look at small short term savings (buying the cheapest least efficient furnace) rather than large long term savings (buying high efficiency furnaces and appliances) when making energy use decisions.
Makati1 on Mon, 22nd Dec 2014 7:18 pm
Many areas of the world are going to become unlivable in the next few decades. They were settled when there was sufficient renewable energy in the form of trees to keep them warm and dry. That is no longer the case. Most homes built since the 1950s have no alternate heat sources called fireplaces or wood stoves. And, even if they all did, there are not enough trees left to fuel them beyond one winter at best.
NG depends on oil to be recoverable. Think about that one for a while until the light comes on.
Yes, things will change…
Nony on Mon, 22nd Dec 2014 8:11 pm
NG is below 3.2. The Marcellus is takeaway constrained. Not econ or geology. Think about that. It is MIGHTY.
Nony on Mon, 22nd Dec 2014 8:12 pm
And it has a little growing brother called the Utica.
Makati1 on Tue, 23rd Dec 2014 6:25 am
Nony, all hydrocarbon recovery depends on massive amounts of oil to come to market. Are those wells lined with plastic? Where does the pumping machinery come from? How about the pipelines? Valves? Drilling rigs? Do they travel over asphalt roads? I would bet that an asphalt road in any northern state lasts about 2-3 years under heavy truck traffic. How will they be repaired? The steel for the bridges may come from a coal smelter, but how does the coal get from the ground to the smelter? By moles and pelicans?
Nony on Tue, 23rd Dec 2014 9:25 am
Maki, wealth comes from the ground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yXzZTYjUl0