•
•
Locking in Oil Prices
Many heating-oil suppliers offer customers the option of locking in a price of oil for the coming season. The debate is often when and if you should lock in the price of oil. This often resembles playing craps at Foxwood's. Predicting prices in recent years has been very difficult due to economic and political forces as much as the effect of the weather. It seems when everyone has perdicted the worse, prices have settled down (due to warmer than expected weather) and when everyone expected a return to moderate prices they have shot up due to unforeseen events.For consumers, the result has been confusion. Even the professtional oil analysts hesitate to make predications into the next heating season. As a rule of thumb, locking in annually is most appropriate for those who are on a tight fixed budget and don't want to worry about the ucnertainty of oil prices. For the rest, the best policy is to pay it by ear each spring or summer, locking in a contract when fuel prices are low relative to recent years...and not locking when they are high.
Considering locking in? April and early May, following a warm winter is often a good time to do so when inventories are high.
Maine oil prices of most providers can be found at www.maineoil.com.
Related Links:
Your Home