Oil and Propane Pre-Buy 2008
Update October 2008: Well oil is now below $80/barrel and the pre-buy was certainly a bad idea in hind sight. How many of you pre-bought? Was there a clause for reduced market prices?
Original Post July 2008:
I received an interesting piece of mail yesterday. It was an advertisement from our local oil and propane supplier. The advertisement was announcing this year’s pre-buy pricing. Are you ready for this folks? I wasn’t too shocked because I use propane and although it’s high it’s nothing compared to No. 2 fuel oil that conventional furnaces burn.
So here are the prices in the fine state of New Hampshire:
Pre-buy Prices require you to pay in full for the amount that you purchased the previous year.
#2 Fuel Oil = $4.74 per gallon! Yes folks….almost $5, I remember a time not that long ago when it was less than $1.
Kerosene = $4.92 per gallon!
Propane (LPG) = $2.89 This doesn’t seem bad to me considering I was paying about $2.60 last year.
So this week also poses an interesting question. Do you sign up for the pre-buy?? The last three days have seen oil drop $14 per barrel and it makes me wonder if things are about to finally cool off. I haven’t made up my mind but it’s surely a difficult decision.
How many of you are pre-buying this year? What are you paying?
Related Article – Oil Vs Propane Fuel Calculator is a great post on comparing which fuel source is a better financial decision.
I got into a buying co-op earlier this year, and we locked in at $2.19/gallon. I’m in western Wisc.
I was quoted $3.09 for propane pre-buy in Massachusetts. I think I am going to pass this year — though I would be interested in learning more about a buying co-op.
we use Oil- and didn’t prebuy (couldn’t imagine it staying that high all season to end up ontop of the game this year!). WHEW- thankful we didn’t. We are in a co-op fuel club which is a pay-as-you-go discount program ($35 to join- no other costs). Filled the tank at $3.30 a gallon (price quoted by fuel company directly that same day was $3.99). I’ll keep track of season’s costs to see where I’d have come out w/ prebuy, fuel club, and list price.