Home oil customers have options

Home heating oil being delivered in Northport. Credit: Ed Betz
Responding to “Home heating oil price has not dropped” [Just Sayin’, April 11], the reason the writer is probably paying higher prices is because he locked into a contract with a full-service oil company. When you buy oil cash-on-delivery, you pay the market price. Recently, the average price for COD oil was about $1.499 a gallon. My customers pay COD for oil and pay for service. You probably paid for a service contract in addition to paying a locked-in price for your oil. When your company signed you for a contract, the price was based on oil futures that they purchased at that time. Based upon America now being the No. 1 producer of petroleum products in the world, the price spikes of the past are less likely. So if your system is reliable and you feel that a contract is not for you, then COD is an option. If you feel more secure with a large full-service company with higher-price oil, then that’s the way you should go. While I have been in business 25 years, I’m not the only company offering competent services. Quite a few licensed and insured companies are out there.
Ed Schoen,
Massapequa
Editor’s note: The writer is owner of Prestige Heating Service Massapequa.
In response to the letter “Home heating oil price has not dropped,” I do not know which oil company the writer is using, but just this past week, I paid $1.409 per gallon for a delivery. The driver said it was the lowest price he has seen in 20 years.
Richard Scheidet,
Middle Island