Heating Oil now $1 a gallon above 5 year average

New York Times

As Price of Oil Soars, Users Shiver and Cross Their Fingers

As Price of Oil Soars, Users Shiver and Cross Their Fingers

Kelvin Ma for The New York Times

David Harris added a wood stove to his house to lower his heating oil bill, which recently cost him $471.

By DIANE CARDWELL and CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Published: January 21, 2012

NORTH BROOKFIELD, Mass. — When David Harris built his 2,000-square-foot hilltop home nine years ago, he wanted to put in natural gas, but the utility wouldn’t run a line to his house. Like many people here, he was stuck using heating oil.

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High Heating Oil Costs Hurt More in Northeast

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Kelvin Ma for The New York Times

Rob Thompson, a deliveryman for Crowley Fuel in North Brookfield, Mass., filling his supply truck with heating oil.

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Mr. Harris added a wood stove to help cut costs and now uses only about one-third of the oil the house would otherwise need. But that did not stop a deliveryman for Crowley Fuel from handing him a $471.21 bill earlier this month for a refill that should get him to April.
“You just cross your fingers and hope that it doesn’t get too much worse,” Mr. Harris said.
Actually, it probably will — for him and the residents of the roughly eight million other American homes that use heating oil, mostly in a band from Maine to Pennsylvania.
While natural gas prices have plummeted to 10-year lows, heating oil prices have been steadily rising for years and are expected to reach record levels this winter, precipitated by higher costs for crude oil and the shutdown of several crucial refineries in the Northeast and in Europe. The Energy Department projects a price of $3.79 a gallon over the next few months, more than a dollar above the winter average for the last five years. Analysts do not expect much relief in the longer term, either, because global oil prices are expected to stay high amid political instability in the Middle East and rising demand from developing countries. end quote.

If you  drive a car you always have a choice of taking a bus or train to save money but when the heating bill for heating oil hits all you can do sometimes is move south or get a wood stove and wood to burn to keep your heating bills down during the winter. I think as the price of oil climbs (now heating oil is $1 a gallon more than 5 year average) you will see more people either lowering their thermostats, piping in natural gas (which is cheaper than last year in most places) buying wood stoves and wood or just shutting off the water and utilities and moving south for the winter if they can afford to.