Have You Gotten Your Fuel Fill-up? Here’s Why You Should!

Waiting Only Increases the Facing Threat of Higher Heating Bills

Driven by higher demand and catastrophic hurricanes hurting production, oil prices hit their highest levels in the past three years. In fact, oil topped $75 per barrel last week—the highest since October 2018.

With some meteorologists predicting a very cold winter ahead of us, U.S. homeowners could see heating fuel prices increase even further.

Oil prices have surged about 10% over the past month as Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas swept through the Southeast and halted production in the Gulf of Mexico for weeks. The shutdowns effectively canceled the impact of modest production spikes from international producers this summer.

Analysts from Goldman Sachs even called Ida the “most bullish hurricane” for oil prices in U.S. history.

A Call to Action for Will-Call Customers

If you’re a “will-call” home heating customer—meaning you call in to get your fuel after you see your tank gauges beginning to run low—it might be time to reconsider your delivery schedule for this winter. When you rely on will-call for delivery, you set yourself up to always be fretting over fuel prices. In the face of fluctuations in the market, it can make your home heating budget seem like a moving target. However, automatic delivery of your home heating fuel helps you control your delivery budget because you eliminate your run-out risk and can better predict your costs. 

When you enroll in automatic delivery, you know when your fuel is coming, and how much fuel will arrive each time. In their second season of auto delivery, many customers take an even further step budget their expected payments across the entire year. That’s right—with auto delivery, you can also enroll in our budget plan to spread your payments into even, monthly installments!

Secure Your Supply with Depew Energy

At Depew Energy, we do our best to keep our propane prices as low as possible. One way we do that is by ensuring a reliable supply of propane, so we are not caught short and need to buy a lot of propane when prices spike upward. Here are some of the ways that we do this.

• Our long, dependable track record. We aren’t some fly-by-night, one-truck discounter. Our nearly 25 years in business gives us the knowledge and experience to know how to respond to price volatility in the energy markets.
• We have plenty of propane storage. We have the resources to keep a steady and reliable supply of propane on-hand. We have long, solid relationships with our supply vendors, too. Being able to store large quantities of propane allows us to better manage price spikes and avoid passing on the full cost of these increases to our customers.
• We have a large delivery fleet. Thanks to multiple propane delivery trucks, we can provide efficient service, which helps keep our overhead costs down. Our Automatic Delivery plan lets us streamline each day’s deliveries so we can serve the most customers each day while still being able to be responsive if a customer needs an emergency delivery.

If you ever find yourself struggling to pay your Depew Energy bill, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us quickly so we can help you come up with a solution. New York also has low-income energy assistance (LIHEAP) programs. Don’t let fear or pride stop you from making sure you and your family are warm, safe, and comfortable this winter!

*Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/business/energy-environment/oil-and-gas-prices-clean-energy.html