Making Sense of Heating Oil Prices

Date: December 4, 2023

Global energy markets and other factors affect the cost of your home heating oil.

No one likes a surprise when it comes to prices, but the last few years have brought quite a few. The cost of meat, eggs, gasoline and many other commodities have fluctuated quite a bit — and too often, the price movement is upward.

At Cubby Oil & Energy, we are acutely aware that heating fuel faces similar ups and downs. We’ll do everything we can to ensure your heating oil delivery is as affordable as possible.

Here’s a rundown of factors affecting heating oil prices in the Boston area and a few ways that Cubby can help.

What is heating oil?

Traditional heating oil is a crude oil distillate, like gasoline or diesel. In fact, it’s nearly identical to off-road diesel fuel. But Cubby Oil & Energy’s heating oil is a bit different — and better.

We deliver Bioheat® fuel, which combines ultra-low-sulfur heating oil and organic biodiesel. This biodiesel blend eliminates 500 million gallons of heating oil and 4.29 million metric tons of carbon emissions! Bioheat fuel leaves fewer deposits in your heating equipment, which saves you considerable money on maintenance and repairs!

Understanding where heating oil comes from illuminates the global and domestic factors affecting its price, including the following:

Supply and Demand

More than 80 percent of U.S. heating oil consumption happens in New England, so heating oil prices tend to rise when part of the Northeast suffers extended freezing temperatures or a blizzard.

Additionally, decreased refinery output, as we saw during COVID-related shutdowns, can lower the supply of heating fuel. When demand surges as it did when economies opened up later in 2020, prices also surge.

Global Energy Markets

As a product largely derived from crude oil, heating oil’s price tracks the global international crude oil market. Consequently, you will see the cost of heating fluctuate because of global events like supply chain disruptions, wars, overseas weather events, OPEC production cuts and Wall Street speculation.

Operational Expenses

Heating oil’s price also incorporates the cost of transporting, storing and distributing it. To the extent that we’re able to keep these costs down, the Cubby team works hard to do so and pass the savings on to you.

Smart Pay from Cubby

There’s little our company can do to impact global energy markets. However, we do offer our customers price protection and payment plans that can stabilize their billing and potentially save them money throughout the year.

1. With our Smart Pay Budget Plan, you don’t need to pay in full for your heating oil delivery. We’ll estimate the cost of your season’s fuel and then divide that into even monthly payments. There’s no cost to enroll!
2. Our Capped Oil Price Program limits how high your fuel price can go but not how low it can fall. Each year, we set a capped price based on the market. For a moderate fee, your per-gallon price won’t rise above this cap, but if the price drops below the cap, you’ll pay the lower rate.

Reach out to Cubby Oil & Energy to enroll in these pricing and payment options.