Northeast To Be Home Heating Oil Hell?

Soaring Prices Put Enormous Pressure On Consumers And The Companies That Deliver Oil

(CBS)  Despite recent drop in crude oil, the cost of home heating oil averages $3.13 a gallon. The steep price tag is putting unprecedented pressure on consumers and the companies that deliver oil in the Northeast, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

For 85-year-old Constance Copes, the cold hard truth of heating oil prices has suddenly hit home. She'll pay 60 percent more per gallon than last year.

"I'm not looking forward to the winter too much," she says. "$4.59, that's not easy."

Oil dealer Jim Meehan is also feeling pain at the pump. Last week, he paid about $12,000 to fill his tanker; and come winter he'll do it three times a day.

"Everybody's concerned about the price of oil and ways to afford it. It's just mind-boggling, because last year our typical price was $2.50 a gallon, and now it's almost doubled," Meehan says.

That's grim news in New England, where eight million families (50 percent of the households) heat their homes with oil, which is now averaging $4 a gallon at retail.

And it's not just oil. Natural gas is up more than 25 percent from last year and electricty rates have nearly doubled.

"It's really scary. This is really going to devastate the middle class in ways we're just understanding," says Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association.

Eugene Guilford represents 400 of Connecticut's mostly "mom and pop" oil dealers. Many, he says, are now caught for the first time in a credit squeeze -- stuck between soaring oil prices and banks leary of loaning the millions of dollars needed to buy oil wholesale.

How many of your dealers could you potentially lose, Keteyian asks.

"I could easily see that 25 or 30 heating oil retailers would not be able to make it through the next heating season, without any question" says Guilford.

In fact, in the last year, at least 15 oil dealers in six states have gone belly up, leaving tens of thousands of customers high and dry.

In March, F and S Oil, a Connecticut company, shut down virtually overnight after collecting more than $3 million from families who pre-paid for their oil.

That total included $5,000 from Constance Copes, a loyal F and S customer for 20 years.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has received more than 3, 000 complaints against oil dealers. He's investigating three, and is suing F&S for failing to live up to its promise.

"There's a sense of real confusion, as well as anxiety and apprehension about whether people are going to be able to heat their homes and who to trust to give them advice, let alone deliver the product," Blumenthal says.

Meaning that in the heat of summer, Constance Copes and thousands like her have had to pay twice for oil long before a winter of discontent arrives.

[peterrydex]

Heating oil prices are have moderated. This website has a list of all the dealers in Connecticut with some pricing information. This can help you shop around

http://www.connecticutheatingoil.com/

Good luck

[ranger194]

All of this assumes the middle class can get a loan, has any more disposable income. Also assumes that building technology fixes are mandated by states thru utility company programs...Heck, I live in the southwest and I can''t find anyone to do a simple blower door program....This should be a gov. subsidized program with every state and operated thru each states family and human services in conjunction with the energy grants given by the feds to the states. Same gas reduce demand a consumer win win.

[venkata4--2008]

"Northeast To Be Home Heating Oil Hell?
---------
Yep. Sounds about right.

Posted by xxunknown at 03:44 PM : Aug 12, 2008"

I agree. With each big oil posting 11 billion a quarter net profits, Halliburton making 2.5 billions net profit per quarter -- Mr. Prez. YES MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[squidly8]

I have the movie toldyouso12 talked about. The day after, seem that one Dear. It made me sick when I saw it.

Posted by BarbaraM99

=========================

Not sure what made you sick. Was it the ridiculousness of the film or that you believed "it could happen"?

I am truly hoping it was the ridiculousness.

[barbaram99]

toldyouso Yes Dear I ''member ye told me that when I was MichelleM99. We used to put tar paper around the house,storm windows, It showed years ago. Tons of blactets on the bed. Long johns. It don''t now. Yet it gets cold there. I feel old. Ye shut down areas of the house that cab be shut down. In Maine years ago ye went to the out house. That was cold.

[barbaram99]

I have the movie toldyouso12 talked about. The day after, seem that one Dear. It made me sick when I saw it.

[pepperwood2]

Whats going on here? There was an article a couple of days ago that diesel is 2.25/gal in Mexico. Here in good old USA it is close to 5.00/gal. The Mexican government is seizing all American vehicles that are crossing the border and bringing back quantities of diesel in bulk that they are paying 2.25/gal for.

Why should it be so much cheaper than diesel sold here in good old USA? Wait until Congress, Reverend Jackson, Chavez, Clinton & Al Gore hear about this???? So There now I told you so!

Go get em McCain! Why all this is insane!

[xxunknown]

Northeast To Be Home Heating Oil Hell?
---------
Yep. Sounds about right.

[displeased]

DRILLING WORKED FOR BRAZIL,,,
BRAZIL FOUND OFFSHORE OIL,,, SO CAN THE USA,,,
Posted by terrorislamx

Not entirely. Part of the reason for Brazil''s success is the production of sugar cane-based ethanol is expected to reach an all-time high. And several major automakers predict that flex fuel vehicles will represent 100% of their production eliminating gas only models. So of course they can export more oil, they don''t use as much. Flex Fuel is something the U.S. isn''t capable of yet because it doesn''t meet the big oil''s agenda.

[squidly8]

toldyouso12, I can''t help but laugh that you consider any part of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" as some kind of truth.

Do you believe all disaster movies to be factual? You understand that the movie was a disaster movie right? Poseiden Adventure, Volcano, Earthquake....do we need to go on?

[cbsfan73]

ofbyfor1 added:
"If you in an area that has natural gas and already have a hookup to your home (gas stove, perhaps), your gas company may have an offer to replace your oil furnace with a gas furnace for free. It may be worth looking into. Also, many energy companies have programs to help homeowners make their properties more energy-efficient. Check into it."

Good point. It reminds me to mention that many states will give you a low interest loan (Usually 2-3%) for energy upgrades. Check with your state to see what is available.

[pepperwood2]

Global warming actually results in hotter summers and much, much colder winters. Go back and rent the movie "Day after tommorrow" pay special attention to the parts where the scientist explains Global warming to all the others while on a trip to India--if you watch that movie--ya just might learn something.

Posted by toldyouso12 at 07:28 AM : Aug 12, 2008

Dear Sir with all due respect - You''re obtaining all your conclusions on conjective "Inconvenient Al Gore Supported Information that has been sued by A Superior Judge in England for false premise.

But you may be half right if any of us are alive here in the NE after this brutally cold Winter you''re predicting. Why just the thought of that ought qualify for an increase of at least 5.00 today on the price of heating oil by your beloved Oil Companies.

Who knows for sure where you can take this "Inconvenient Truth" and run??

[terrorislamx]

DRILLING WORKED FOR BRAZIL,,,

BRAZIL FOUND OFFSHORE OIL,,, SO CAN THE USA,,,

Brazil''s giant offshore oil discoveries
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47265

The experience of Brazil''s offshore drilling is proving that giant new oil fields are out there, waiting to be discovered, just off shore along the continental shelf. Petrobras, Brazil''s largest oil company is moving Brazil from being nearly 100 percent dependent on foreign oil imports only some 50 years ago, toward becoming a net oil exporter in the next few years. How? Brazil has realized spectacular results by developing the technology to drill ultra-deep offshore wells in Brazil''s Barracuda and Caratingua oil fields, in the Campos Basin some 50 miles into the Atlantic Ocean east of Rio de Janeiro.

[terrorislamx]

68 million acres of land federally leased for drilling

It''''s part of nearly 2 billion acres overseen by two federal agencies %u2014 the Bureau of Land Management and the Minerals Management Service %u2014 that have potential for oil and gas exploration, the bulk of which is strictly off limits.
http://www.startribune.com/business/25665954.html

hmmmmm that is only 3.4% of the available lands

THANKS DEMONIC-RATS,,,


DRILLING WORKED FOR NORWAY,,,

NORWAY FOUND OFFSHORE OIL,,, SO CAN THE USA,,,

Since 1970 it''s been clear that vast oil and gas riches lay under the ocean floor off the Norwegian coast. In the year 2000, we''''ll still be determining the size of these resources. We know that at the turn of the millennium Norway will be one of the world''s major oil exporting countries and a main source of natural gas for Europe. Following a sharp increase in oil production in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, oil extraction will level off and decline in the next decade, while gas production will double from 1995 to 2005. The Petroleum sector will remain one of the most important spheres of the Norwegian economy for a long time to come.
http://www.reisenett.no/norway/facts/economy/oil_producer.html

[haoli25]

The Northeast should try burning Arabs and Oil company executives this winter. It''s the GREEN solution.

[cbsfan73]

liebchen21 wrote:
I''''m a single mother of two teens, making about $32,000 a year. Last winter, it cost me about $1000 a month to live in this house. I''''m not looking forward to winter this year either.

How does the rent on the house compare to a three bedroom apartment?

It might be time to move...

[jlagat]

To those tools that complain about sunny, mid-70 degree weather saying, "I like having four seasons."

It''s easy to say you like having four seasons when you''re not freezing your arse off.

[cbsfan73]

tootall10142 wrote:
"HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF BURNING WOOD FOR HEAT? UNLESS YOU ARE ASTHMATIC OR YOU DONT LIKE YOUR HOUSE SMEELING LIKE SMOKE THEN KEEP PAYING APPARENTLY YOU ARE NOT COLD YET YOU JUST THINK YOU ARE."

I have a wood stove with a blower in the basement. The heat gradually makes it up through the floor as I choose to leave the basement door closed.

But I never burn wood unless it is free. Otherwise it is no bargain compared to electricity or oil. I usually get it after an ice storm or by simply asking around.

One good idea: Follow the tree power line trimming crews, many times residents will give you excess wood.

[tootall10142]

HEY LIEBCHEN MOVE OUT WHAT CAN HE DO IF HE TAKES YOU TO COURT YOU DONT MAKE ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY A GARNISHMENT ON YOUR CHECK. iF YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN THOSE CONDITIONS THEN YOUR CREDIT IS SHOT ANY WAY.YOU SHOULDNT EXPOSE YOUR UNDER BELLY TO THE WORLD ,YOURE WEAK .FLUUCK THIS CLOWN MOVE YOUR ARSS SOME WHERE ELSE.

[tootall10142]

HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF BURNING WOOD FOR HEAT? UNLESS YOU ARE ASTHMATIC OR YOU DONT LIKE YOUR HOUSE SMEELING LIKE SMOKE THEN KEEP PAYING APPARENTLY YOU ARE NOT COLD YET YOU JUST THINK YOU ARE.