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Natural gas is a steal, but heating-oil users are out in the cold

Akron Beacon Journal -- Charles and Helen Williams have seen the rapidly falling prices of natural gas.
But the couple heat their rural Copley Township, Ohio, home with a wood-burning stove and heating oil, which is essentially diesel fuel.
So while friends and relatives who heat their homes with natural gas enjoyed historically low rates this past winter, with predictions that prices will remain low, the Williamses and others who use heating oil nervously watched the price of gasoline rise.

"There's nothing cheaper than natural gas, unless someone is giving you free firewood," said Kuhn, who added that 10 to 15 years ago, heating oil used to be the better deal over propane. Now propane is the better deal, though still higher than natural gas, and its prices have increased in recent years.

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Submitted May 01, 2012 By: bar1035

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remay Champion Author Houston Posts:7,078 Points:2,143,965 Joined:May 2006	Message Posted: May 2, 2012 5:28:49 AM Ignore remay Report Abuse time to convert...
SammyAdams Champion Author Tallahassee Posts:3,197 Points:820,405 Joined:Nov 2010	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 8:52:08 PM Ignore SammyAdams Report Abuse With the abundance of natural gas, it appears as though this will be the focus for updating heating, driving, and electric generation for at least the near future.
ExplorerWA Champion Author Washington Posts:4,235 Points:824,100 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 8:02:31 PM Ignore ExplorerWA Report Abuse It hard to believe that they didn't update to a more efficient gas heating system years ago.
TruthMatters Champion Author New Jersey Posts:2,586 Points:558,555 Joined:Oct 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 1:54:21 PM Ignore TruthMatters Report Abuse They should've switched a long time ago!
des7902 Veteran Author Virginia Posts:385 Points:212,240 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 10:35:56 AM Ignore des7902 Report Abuse Another nail in the fuel oil coffin. Propane has always been a better deal than oil, not just in the last 10-15 years. People are just afraid of it for some unknown reason.
ErnieK9LO Champion Author North Dakota Posts:2,811 Points:568,530 Joined:Nov 2010	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 9:58:08 AM Ignore ErnieK9LO Report Abuse Natural gas is for heating and oil should be used in other ways.
investmentdr Champion Author Cleveland Posts:4,127 Points:1,480,910 Joined:Sep 2008	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 9:47:33 AM Ignore investmentdr Report Abuse propane still blows
orphancarguyPE Champion Author PEI Posts:3,905 Points:758,850 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 9:02:01 AM Ignore orphancarguyPE Report Abuse Natural gas is cheap now, but it can vary drastically as it has over the last 40 years, much more drastically than oil. Check out its history Its cheap because there is a 'possibly temporary' glut of it now, due to massive gains from fracking, and lack of market for the excess at the moment. Unlike liquid fuels, which can be easily transported to new potential users, natural gas requires a lot of time consuming 'hard wiring' ie in-ground infrastructure to add additional users for home heating/cooling, and realistically, for businesses wanting to use natural gas as a motive fuel. The tipping point to it as fuel, for a massive changeover as a fleet fuel for large transports, garbage trucks, taxis, and transit vehicles and the like, to replace diesel, will soak up excess production, but it won't happen overnight, and there might be years of hearing about natural gas surplus before the hint of any localized temporary shortages in peak winter or summer use start happening. The down side to natural gas (and propane for those not on the pipeline) is in the story between the lines--as in "heating oil used to be the better deal over propane" If you, and everyone else, is suddenly investing in the very same solution, history shows that oversubscribing can be as expensive as undersubscribing. Also, once you are tied in, you are 'hostage' to sole source utility pricing. Thats why, after cutting my heating oil by 3/4--replacing oil fired hot water with solar heated hot water, and oil fired heating largely with solar air heating, I'm going completely solar heating in the next 3 years. When/if natural gas arrives, the hookup costs/new furnace would be very large. I could go propane, but just the new furnace cost to new code is substantial with the other related costs. As for sticking with oil, even a new super to code leakproof fibreglass tank is half the cost of a cost of a new furnace, and with annual oil use, a fully solar warm water heating system is all paid for in a few years compared to oil (3yrs), propane (3years) or natural gas (3-5 years). The best thing is after that date, no more fuel costs! Like today, both solar systems running merrily for heat and hot water, and I only used 6 kw/h of electricity in 24 hrs--thats 6 kw/hours for the entire house, by solar systems are self-powered or essentially use no measureable electricity. Besides the oil the furnace uses at least 4 kw/hours a day just to run. [Edited by: orphancarguyPE at 5/1/2012 12:06:40 PM EST]
humblepie Champion Author Toledo Posts:35,342 Points:2,399,070 Joined:Mar 2006	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 7:44:20 AM Ignore humblepie Report Abuse not many new heating oil homes being built
jakessoccermom Sophomore Author Wisconsin Posts:199 Points:638,370 Joined:May 2010	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 7:09:04 AM Ignore jakessoccermom Report Abuse Natural gas I think will continue to fall in price and is the best choice in the long run for home heating.
coughlin Champion Author San Jose Posts:5,324 Points:1,145,340 Joined:Sep 2009	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:58:10 AM Ignore coughlin Report Abuse Natural gas looks like the way to go.
Skunk63 Champion Author Phoenix Posts:2,692 Points:585,975 Joined:Oct 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:21:46 AM Ignore Skunk63 Report Abuse $17 per foot to extend a tiny line underground? What's the non-union price?
gs7101 Champion Author San Antonio Posts:5,658 Points:396,020 Joined:Jun 2009	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:09:05 AM Ignore gs7101 Report Abuse Heating oil has always been expensive to use.
Penny_Pincher Veteran Author Columbus Posts:435 Points:22,695 Joined:Aug 2005	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:05:40 AM Ignore Penny_Pincher Report Abuse Coal is pretty cheap. And it comes already split.
Gas_Eyes Champion Author Dallas Posts:2,817 Points:672,560 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:04:53 AM Ignore Gas_Eyes Report Abuse Because of low natural gas prices, the price of electricity in my area has also dropped more than 10%.
MontanaMac Champion Author Washington Posts:1,736 Points:410,050 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:02:58 AM Ignore MontanaMac Report Abuse Time to do the math re conversion.
imcheep Champion Author New Mexico Posts:2,599 Points:670,455 Joined:Apr 2005	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 6:02:17 AM Ignore imcheep Report Abuse Need to bring NG to there area.
Buckeyee Champion Author Maine Posts:4,772 Points:924,325 Joined:May 2010	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 5:53:06 AM Ignore Buckeyee Report Abuse Here in the north east, the oil dealers have us by the ...... Maine's republican governor wants to have a natural gas pipeline built into the state to briNG low cost NG. But some special interest groups are formiNG to block the pipeline already. These same groups have blocked a LNG terminal on the coast in Eastport for years, same goes for wind turbines on the isolated mountain tops.
dgerst Champion Author South Carolina Posts:2,801 Points:578,525 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 5:53:03 AM Ignore dgerst Report Abuse I just got a flyer from my local Natural Gas provider that they have dropped their usual installation charge to bring gas to my all electric house if I put in a gas dryer, water heater or furnace.
fuel2use Champion Author Seattle Posts:3,615 Points:758,920 Joined:Dec 2010	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 5:51:50 AM Ignore fuel2use Report Abuse The local gas company wants 12,000 dollars to hook me up because I am 50-60 feet away from the end of the gas main with needs to be extended.
NoSoup4U Champion Author Raleigh Posts:2,110 Points:967,880 Joined:Jul 2007	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 5:47:49 AM Ignore NoSoup4U Report Abuse Any fossil fuel will dry up in the end, and be really expensive right before that. We need to kick ALL fossil fuel dependencies.