Butler residents seek home heating alternatives as oil prices jump
With winter just around the corner, it’s time to stock up on heating fuel and other alternative heating products to keep homes warm throughout the harshness of winter.
However, with skyrocketing fuel prices such as diesel and propane, some Butler residents already have been looking for other ways to save on their energy bills.
“We have always been busy for providing alternative heating sources, but now especially since the oil prices like heating oil and propane increased,” said Adam Martin, owner of Martin Sales & Service in Butler. “Some people out there simply can’t afford to heat their homes that way as high as they are currently.”
According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price of heating oil in the United States is $5.70 a gallon as of its last update on Oct. 24, which is up around $1 since the beginning of that month.
“There is a very short supply of heating oil and diesel fuel,” said Mac Purvis Jr., owner of Purvis Brothers in Mars. “They are basically interchangeable. I am concerned about having adequate supplies. I think we will be OK because of the arrangements we have, but overall, if it gets short, it will cause the prices to go up even more.”
Dell Cromie, president of Glassmere Fuel Service in Tarentum, said oil sanctions on Russian oil play a part in the rising costs.
Business has not slowed down in any way, he explained, as he tries to source his oil from different locations in order to obtain the best price for his customers.
“Things have been pretty much the same,” Cromie said. “People still need to heat their homes. One thing we are seeing is we are making a lot more deliveries because people are getting fuel in smaller quantities because of the cost.”
Purvis explained that most of the oil market is set on the East Coast, while he sources most of his oil from the Pittsburgh area and some places in the Midwest.
“It’s basically a lack of refining capacity in the United States,” Purvis said. “They used to bring some in from Europe, but they are short because of the natural gas cutoff from Russia. There is no surplus of the product in the world to fill the gaps.”
Purvis said the lack of pipelines being built in the United States and the inability of refineries to drill for more oil and natural gas is having major consequences, including skyrocketing prices.
Martin said his business specializes in natural gas and propane fireplaces, as well as heating stoves, which include wood pellet stoves, wood burning, coal and electric stoves.
The majority of the Martins’ new customers are seeking wood or pellet stoves as an alternative home heating source.
“Most of my customers go through three tons of wood pellets a year, and that is about $800 to $900 to heat their house for a whole year, which is extremely cheap savings compared to heating oil, propane and electric,” Martin said.
“We are also seeing an uptick on wood burning, too, because wood is free except for some labor involved,” he added.
Wood pellets come in 40-pound bags and start at $280 per ton, but Martin stressed that quality over quantity will help in the long term.
“There are wood pellets made from all different types of fibers and other types of wood,” Martin said. “I recommend hardwood. There is a huge difference in quality out there. A better wood pellet is going to give you a cleaner burn. If it’s not high quality, you might be burning two bags versus one bag of the other brand.”
If customers use the higher-quality pellets, there will be a lot less maintenance that goes into their pellet stoves, but a deep clean no matter what will always keep the stoves running at maximum efficiency.
A big incentive the government is pushing at the moment is a one-time, 26% tax credit available after the purchase of a new wood or pellet stove that qualifies, and Martin says most of his stoves do qualify.
“When you look at the full budget of a wood or pellet stove, they are getting as a tax credit back around $2,000,” Martin said. “I believe we got that credit extended for the next 10 years.”
For residents using traditional heating furnaces, heavy maintenance also is something Purvis and Cromie recommend, such as the cleaning of the furnace and making sure parts are working properly and are of the highest quality.
“If you replace an old burner with a high-efficiency burner, you can usually see about 15% savings right there,” Cromie said.
“A lot of people are doing that; I think a lot more will next year,” he said.
