In many places, the cost of home heating oil amounts to the cost of gasoline.
This is fascinating, as the cost of gasoline usually has between 45 to 55 cents in transportation taxes built into the cost.
Heating oil is a product that is actually created in the off season in the refineries that make gasoline during the winter.
The way this works is simple.
An oil refinery does not make any money unless its making product Go to this site .
Even going full bore at 100 % of capacity, which is almost impossible, the oil refineries throughout the country are not able to fulfill the demand for fuel or heating oil during the winter, and gasoline in the summertime.
The response to this dilemma, while also acknowledging the need to keep the plant operating at peak efficiency, is to make heating oil in the summertime, and store it in tanks for deliveries in the autumn and the winter cold season.
They also do the same in the chillier winter months by producing gasoline for use in the summertime.
This enables the oil company to keep the refinery operational, while also turning out the items we depend on every year.
The one problem with this is that on top of the cost of petroleum, they also need to guess right about the demand.
Too much fuel oil or gasoline at the end of the season, and they lose money.
Too little, and the cost goes up even more.
To make matters worse, they also need to base demand on the weather, which as we understand, is unpredictable at best.
You can do your part by being as fuel efficient as possible when utilizing either product.
Think about a project of discovering the drafts in your house, and fixing them.
Use blankets and heating pads to keep everybody warm in the evening.
Turn down the thermostat in the evening, and save even more.
Quit heating that spare room and put a towel at the bottom of the door to limit cold air from entering the heated parts of your home.
The less heating oil used, the less upward pressure on the cost, and the more all of us save.