Consumers can expect one thing when it comes to heating oil prices this winter: Volatility.
Joe Diamond, executive director ofMASSCAP, said that’s alarming. The residents they work with will likely see a huge increase in costs.
“Our concerns are related to affordability, but more importantly, health and safety of the people that we serve,” Diamond said.
MASSCAP is a statewide association for local agencies that connect residents who need relief from heating costs with government help. Low-income residents can get federal and state dollars to cut into heating bills.
The average price per gallon just jumped $0.18 in one week, from $5.98 to $6.15 as of Monday, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
Compared to last year, that’s a 74% increase, up from $3.52 per gallon.
But even with federal and state money, Diamond worries it won’t be enough for many Massachusetts residents. Filling up a typical 275-gallon tank just one time at $6 per gallon would cost $1,650.
“They probably wouldn’t be able to cover one tank of oil — let alone more than one tank — when it gets cold,” Diamond said.
About a fifth of Massachusetts homes heat with fuel oil, according to the state.
Charlie Uglietto, president of Cubby Oil and Energy in Wilmington, said customers can look to mitigate high pricing through price cap programs and budget plans.
But he said talking to home heating oil service providers directly is most important.
“Seniors on fixed incomes — they see a delivery come in at $6 a gallon, they can’t pay it all at one time. Just talk to our office,” Uglietto said. “We’ll work with them. to make sure that we keep them with fuel for the winter. And we’re working with them in a payment plan that works for them and keeps us, you know, getting paid by the end of next season.”
With such dramatic price swings, Uglietto said he’s seen prices go up in the morning and then drop again in the afternoon.
“We don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t know what’s happening,” he said.
Diamond said it’s unclear if heating oil prices will come down. In the face of increasing costs and pricing, and with a limited pool of government money, he said “the ability to help people through the winter is becoming less and less.”
Michael Ferrante, president of the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, pointed out it’s not just heating oil prices going up: It’s every fuel that comes from a barrel of crude oil.
Partially to blame for rising prices, he said, are global conflicts such as the one between Russia-Ukraine, and the ongoing crisis after the U.S. invasion of Iran, which saw crude oil soar to $100 per barrel immediately after the invasion.
“Truckers are up in arms when you see diesel prices at $8 plus per gallon,” he said. “It illustrates that we are in a global energy market — and right now we’re kind of in crisis mode.”
Even if residents fall behind on their bills, utilities can’t shut off their heating in winter under state law. That shut-off moratorium lasts from last October until the beginning of April.
Anyone in need of home heating assistance can go to the state home energy assistance program.
