Heating Oil vs Natural Gas - City Power and Gas

Heating oil vs Natural Gas…. Not the most top of mind issue going on these days as the news is more likely to produce a segment on the latest Charlie Sheen Twitter rant (BTW shameless plug, follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/citypowerandgas or find us on Facebook) .

I have heard this argument for so many years and I have been on both sides of this issue as I worked in both the oil and gas sectors for many years. Here are some pros and cons and my opinion on both and if you should convert from heating oil to natural gas.

Price – Let’s take care of this one right off the bat, Natural Gas wins hands down and heating oil does not even come in a close second. Also over the past yeas Natural Gas has been much more stable in price swings versus Heating Oil.

How Heating Oil companies price out their product to customers also puts it at a disadvantage as the price changes twice daily so depending on when your order is processed or delivered alters the price. Most companies would set your price higher than normal to cover any mid day swings. Natural Gas however is priced out at the beginning of the month and does not change until the last day of the month, very simple and very easy.

Reliability – Both fuels do exactly what they are supposed to do, you light them on fire and it keeps you warm and toasty but the part of reliability I would like to focus on is the delivery to your home. Natural Gas is constantly at your beck and call, constantly there to make the bath water hot and fire up the stove for dinner. Pretty much the only time you will not have the gas ready to go is if you are a little too late on paying that bill! Heating Oil however is delivered by truck on a schedule governed by not just the weather but price at the rack as well. Almost everyone that has had heating oil has had what is known in the industry as a “run out” which is when the oil company does not deliver on time and lets your tank run dry. Not only does this annoy you and almost always happens at 3am on a 19 degree January night but it sucks up the sludge in the bottom of the tank and clog the lines to your boiler resulting in a costly service call.

So which is better? Well the term “better” is subjective but in my opinion there is not much of an argument of having a home heated with Gas vs Oil but the issue comes down to the fact of if you have a home heated with oil can you afford to convert it to Natural Gas. There are many programs out there that can help pay for some of the cost of installing a new Natural Gas heating system whether through financing, tax incentives etc but look at it this way, you probably pay over $300 per year for a service contract now for your oil heat system that you will not really need when you go with Natural Gas as the amount of service that a gas boiler needs is next to none. Take that savings and what you will be saving on the cost of therm of gas to a gallon of fuel oil and you will have that investment paid off in no time!

If you are interested in converting contact your utility company and they have programs that customers can get free quotes from local plumbers to do a conversion. Helpful hint – Get at least three quotes and then bargain with the cheapest from there.   

Oil is over $100 a barrel, don’t pay over $1,000 to fill up that dirty oil tank!!!

Dean T Jardin

CEO City Power & Gas

Posted in: Heating Oil vs Natural Gas