Last week, I ordered my first oil delivery of the season. My last delivery was back in March so I was due for a fill-up. As I have done, since discovering the site last winter, I ordered my heating oil through Codfuel.com. They service Long Island and the surrounding region. The site serves as a clearinghouse where participating heating oil distributors can post their prevailing price per gallon. These prices are much cheaper than your contract oil dealers. In fact, you can call around and check this very easily.
Go to www.Codfuel.com and look around; simply enter your zip code and you are free to peruse the list of heating oil distributors servicing your area. Many post a cash and a credit price per gallon with discounts depending on the amount of gallons you order. The more you order the cheaper it is and if you pay cash, you can save an additional 10 cents per gallon in most cases. I ordered last week because I saw the price of crude edging up with the stock market rally and I had been watching the prices for a few weeks. I wound up with $1.99 per gallon. Not bad.
As usual, my household will make this fill-up last as long as possible. When it gets cold, we turn to the fireplace in the den. We have two heating zones, upstairs and downstairs, so it never makes much sense to us to heat the whole downstairs when we can all keep warm in the den. Even though the price of oil has come down significantly since last winter, we all can still strive to save money on our heating bills; it is one of those bills that we can control. Throughout my entire existence, starting from growing up in my mother's house and now in my house with my family, the maximum thermostat setting for heat has always been 65 degrees. The same temperature as the lovely day outside that everyone was raving about today. Generally we keep it a few degrees below that and we always turn it down when we are not at home and when we go to bed.
Anyhow, I digress. The most important point about Codfuel.com is the huge savings over the contract heating oil companies. What most of us don't know is that when you sign their yearly service contract, you pay at least $1 more per gallon. Sure that contract includes your "free" annual checkup and preferential maintenance but it also requires you to accept automatic refills. If you do the math, you will see how that service contract benefits the oil company more than it benefits you. For every 1000 gallons of oil they deliver, they collect an extra $1000 dollars so all of that service isn't free, is it? If you had to call an independent oil heating system maintenance person for service, would it cost you $1000 dollars? I don't think so. So, quit your contract, save your money and use Codfuel.com. They should thank me for this.
Showing posts with label Energy Consumption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Energy Consumption. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Reversal of Fortune
The LIPA tale continues. Today I came home from the beach (yes, I went again) to find that I had partial electricity, a brown out of sorts. So LIPA dispatched yet another solo guy in a truck to come back and fiddle with what his fleet of compatriots had supposedly fixed on Tuesday morning. In order to fix the problem, I and my seven neighbors had to be blacked out again for a few hours. It seems almost certain that we have entered an electrical twilight zone and this is not the end of it. But, if there are five more trucks here in the morning, I will definitely not be amused.
Anyhow, in a completely unrelated turn of events, the mega million lottery jackpot has hit $207,000,000 so tomorrow I am going out to buy some lottery tickets. I never buy lottery tickets and though I would not recommend this is in the normal course of my world or sensibilities, I am going to throw my hat into the luck pool and see if I get a return. I have spent a few dollars on much more worthless items and perhaps a little hope of winning something may not be so bad.
Some people are lucky and some are not. I am hoping for luck to smile my way in the job market; hoping that I get the opportunity to toil away at a thankless job for a few bucks, and believe me, I would be grateful. There are many of us who could use a reversal of fortune right now and I do hope that mine comes in the form of job but if I win the lottery, this will all be a moot point now, wouldn't it? I know my chances are slim to none and I do not plan to make a habit of buying them, that is truly not my style, but sometimes when you switch things up a bit, it helps to lighten the mood.
Anyhow, in a completely unrelated turn of events, the mega million lottery jackpot has hit $207,000,000 so tomorrow I am going out to buy some lottery tickets. I never buy lottery tickets and though I would not recommend this is in the normal course of my world or sensibilities, I am going to throw my hat into the luck pool and see if I get a return. I have spent a few dollars on much more worthless items and perhaps a little hope of winning something may not be so bad.
Some people are lucky and some are not. I am hoping for luck to smile my way in the job market; hoping that I get the opportunity to toil away at a thankless job for a few bucks, and believe me, I would be grateful. There are many of us who could use a reversal of fortune right now and I do hope that mine comes in the form of job but if I win the lottery, this will all be a moot point now, wouldn't it? I know my chances are slim to none and I do not plan to make a habit of buying them, that is truly not my style, but sometimes when you switch things up a bit, it helps to lighten the mood.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Black Out
Last night, we had a blackout and I missed my post.
It was a hot summer night and we have had few such nights this summer so it was a night ripe for overuse of the electrical grid and we were not surprised until we discovered that the people up the street and the people down the street still had power. There were only seven houses down. Bad sign. We called LIPA and reported the problem. We were informed that the maintenance guy (she said 'guy' not 'crew') was up in Hauppauge and would arrive within 2-4 hours. They took our cell phone number and told us they'd call back with an update. And we waited.
Thirty minutes later, an automated message informed us that there was a "transformer issue" and a maintenance truck had been dispatched. We wondered out loud whether most average folk would understand what a transformer was and in light of the current summer blockbuster movie, Transformers, might perhaps think that we were dealing with some type of robot in disguise. Well, our maintenance truck showed up about an hour later and yes it was just one guy. We thought that maybe LIPA had really cut back, using automated messages, reducing personnel for emergency response, but then why were they still charging us so much?
Anyhow, our guy turned on his big search light and went up and down the street a few times looking for the right pole and we began to worry that we were in for a long night. Thankfully, we were having a great time catching up on street gossip with our fellow affected neighbors so it was all good. Meanwhile, our maintenance guy had found the pole with the transformer and appeared to be working on it. Then suddenly he turned off his big lights, got into the truck and drove off up the street at which point we panicked for we still had no electricity.
A few moments later he came barreling back down the street and pulled up at another pole. He had only set off to turn around. My street is a somewhat narrow dead end street with a few dead end side streets so it takes a little effort for a big truck to turn around. A few days ago, an 18 wheeler came down the street and the driver had to back all the way up the street to get out. Anyhow, the poor LIPA guy had to start lopping of branches in the middle of the night so he could reach the other pole. We of little faith waited while he fiddled at the pole certain that there was no power to be had.
At last a flicker in the house across the street or was it a candle? Then their floodlight came on, yeah! Except, we still had no juice. Oh no! Then straight out of poltergeist, the microwave clock and the refrigerator came on in our house. Nothing else. Well, at least the food would be saved, we thought. Then the TV flicked on and off and still none of the lights were working. We checked the neighbors on either side of us and their houses were still dark. A few minutes later one of the kitchen lights came on but not the other and still no other lights were working. Then slowly the whole house started to come back to life. It appeared to me that the guy was jury-rigging something for there was no credible explanation why parts of the house had electricity while other parts did not. None of our circuit breakers had blown so it was very strange. Finally, our house returned to full power and we rejoiced.
Our guy then packed up and left and that was that. Except the neighbors to our right still had no power. Oh well. The automated voice called back about an hour later to check if we had power, press 1 for yes, 2 for no. This morning we woke up to a fleet of LIPA trucks on the street. 5 huge trucks and lots of guys yelling and standing in the street for 5 long hours while work was done on the two poles. It was definitely overkill. Last night, it seemed like a miracle that we got our power back with the one lone guy toiling away but this morning, it was business as usual for LIPA.
It was a hot summer night and we have had few such nights this summer so it was a night ripe for overuse of the electrical grid and we were not surprised until we discovered that the people up the street and the people down the street still had power. There were only seven houses down. Bad sign. We called LIPA and reported the problem. We were informed that the maintenance guy (she said 'guy' not 'crew') was up in Hauppauge and would arrive within 2-4 hours. They took our cell phone number and told us they'd call back with an update. And we waited.
Thirty minutes later, an automated message informed us that there was a "transformer issue" and a maintenance truck had been dispatched. We wondered out loud whether most average folk would understand what a transformer was and in light of the current summer blockbuster movie, Transformers, might perhaps think that we were dealing with some type of robot in disguise. Well, our maintenance truck showed up about an hour later and yes it was just one guy. We thought that maybe LIPA had really cut back, using automated messages, reducing personnel for emergency response, but then why were they still charging us so much?
Anyhow, our guy turned on his big search light and went up and down the street a few times looking for the right pole and we began to worry that we were in for a long night. Thankfully, we were having a great time catching up on street gossip with our fellow affected neighbors so it was all good. Meanwhile, our maintenance guy had found the pole with the transformer and appeared to be working on it. Then suddenly he turned off his big lights, got into the truck and drove off up the street at which point we panicked for we still had no electricity.
A few moments later he came barreling back down the street and pulled up at another pole. He had only set off to turn around. My street is a somewhat narrow dead end street with a few dead end side streets so it takes a little effort for a big truck to turn around. A few days ago, an 18 wheeler came down the street and the driver had to back all the way up the street to get out. Anyhow, the poor LIPA guy had to start lopping of branches in the middle of the night so he could reach the other pole. We of little faith waited while he fiddled at the pole certain that there was no power to be had.
At last a flicker in the house across the street or was it a candle? Then their floodlight came on, yeah! Except, we still had no juice. Oh no! Then straight out of poltergeist, the microwave clock and the refrigerator came on in our house. Nothing else. Well, at least the food would be saved, we thought. Then the TV flicked on and off and still none of the lights were working. We checked the neighbors on either side of us and their houses were still dark. A few minutes later one of the kitchen lights came on but not the other and still no other lights were working. Then slowly the whole house started to come back to life. It appeared to me that the guy was jury-rigging something for there was no credible explanation why parts of the house had electricity while other parts did not. None of our circuit breakers had blown so it was very strange. Finally, our house returned to full power and we rejoiced.
Our guy then packed up and left and that was that. Except the neighbors to our right still had no power. Oh well. The automated voice called back about an hour later to check if we had power, press 1 for yes, 2 for no. This morning we woke up to a fleet of LIPA trucks on the street. 5 huge trucks and lots of guys yelling and standing in the street for 5 long hours while work was done on the two poles. It was definitely overkill. Last night, it seemed like a miracle that we got our power back with the one lone guy toiling away but this morning, it was business as usual for LIPA.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Some Ups but More Downs
Memorable phrase of the day: "Let me have $20 of regular, please" knowing that would fill my tank.
Gas is now $1.79 a gallon in my area. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would see the day again when gas was less than $2 a gallon or that I would pay $2 a gallon for my latest delivery of home heating oil. I definitely have to recommend codfuel.com to any Long Islander who is looking for the best deal on oil delivery. Gone are the days of paying at least $0.80 a gallon extra for the privilege of having a full contract with an oil company that included "free" service calls. We are going to roll the dice on this one considering that we replaced the water heater and the boiler a few years ago.
Sometimes we get so accustomed to a particular level of comfort and service that it takes a bit more than the usual prodding to undergo a regular review of expenses to find savings in the budget. Thankfully, my husband and I are fairly conservative in our expenditure and even more since we are diligently attacking business debt. Mind you, I am not sure that I am going to look back and enjoy this particular factor of my life. I think I would like to live a little sometimes and not be so fanatical about every expense.
After having my job for a couple of months, we released the tight financial reins a little bit to begin the process of replacing some completely worn out, broken and/or missing items in the house. 5 years ago, we bought Ikea in the hope that 5 years hence, which is now, we would move up a step to purchasing more premium items that would take us through the college years. I know I referred to Ikea in a recent post, so you know we were back there realizing that we have to do budget-conscious replacements again and delay once more our desire to find more permanent furnishing solutions. I think I am simply out of touch now with the reality of the amounts of dollars required to do a decent room upgrade; the kind of dollars that I simply cannot afford to spend right now and not sure when.
In light of my layoff on Monday, I am so happy that we stuck to the rule that we only spent what we could afford; cash only, no credit. Granted, we were tempted to splurge on many occasions but we both managed to talk ourselves out of it as usual. This is an area that is never of issue with us, neither of us is ever willing to spend more than the other which I have to state once more is simply not the best way; always being prudent can put the damper on things much too often, I suspect. For instance, traveling is something that I truly love to do and in reality have done so little of it lately other than the typical interstate driving to visit friends and relatives. However, every time I get that crazy notion that I want to actually fly somewhere, something that I haven't done since 2002, I multiply that airfare by 4, consider the hotel and eating costs and talk myself right out of it.
Last weekend, I was optimistic about the future, I had all the ducks in a row; my job would allow us to forge ahead despite the obvious challenges. My husband was feeling a little more "doom and gloom," directly influenced by the financial and business news, which is understandable. I countered that we should have a positive outlook on things since after all we both have jobs. I actually started to consider saving for a trip next year. We decided that when we were comfortable with the dent that we made on the business debt, we were going to go somewhere to celebrate, break our usual mold and surrender our usual penny-pinching selves. Alas it is not to be, yet again. I lost my job first thing Monday morning and he got an email the same day that his company planned to lay off nearly 500 people tomorrow.
Some would say have faith, the Lord works in mysterious ways, or we all have to pay our spiritual dues or we are lucky to be in a better position than many or we are simply lucky just to be alive and be happily married with children, or that we are fortunate to have a house or that we should be just downright grateful for everything.
Ask me again tomorrow what I think about that. Right now, I am definitely having trouble seeing the bright side.
Gas is now $1.79 a gallon in my area. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would see the day again when gas was less than $2 a gallon or that I would pay $2 a gallon for my latest delivery of home heating oil. I definitely have to recommend codfuel.com to any Long Islander who is looking for the best deal on oil delivery. Gone are the days of paying at least $0.80 a gallon extra for the privilege of having a full contract with an oil company that included "free" service calls. We are going to roll the dice on this one considering that we replaced the water heater and the boiler a few years ago.
Sometimes we get so accustomed to a particular level of comfort and service that it takes a bit more than the usual prodding to undergo a regular review of expenses to find savings in the budget. Thankfully, my husband and I are fairly conservative in our expenditure and even more since we are diligently attacking business debt. Mind you, I am not sure that I am going to look back and enjoy this particular factor of my life. I think I would like to live a little sometimes and not be so fanatical about every expense.
After having my job for a couple of months, we released the tight financial reins a little bit to begin the process of replacing some completely worn out, broken and/or missing items in the house. 5 years ago, we bought Ikea in the hope that 5 years hence, which is now, we would move up a step to purchasing more premium items that would take us through the college years. I know I referred to Ikea in a recent post, so you know we were back there realizing that we have to do budget-conscious replacements again and delay once more our desire to find more permanent furnishing solutions. I think I am simply out of touch now with the reality of the amounts of dollars required to do a decent room upgrade; the kind of dollars that I simply cannot afford to spend right now and not sure when.
In light of my layoff on Monday, I am so happy that we stuck to the rule that we only spent what we could afford; cash only, no credit. Granted, we were tempted to splurge on many occasions but we both managed to talk ourselves out of it as usual. This is an area that is never of issue with us, neither of us is ever willing to spend more than the other which I have to state once more is simply not the best way; always being prudent can put the damper on things much too often, I suspect. For instance, traveling is something that I truly love to do and in reality have done so little of it lately other than the typical interstate driving to visit friends and relatives. However, every time I get that crazy notion that I want to actually fly somewhere, something that I haven't done since 2002, I multiply that airfare by 4, consider the hotel and eating costs and talk myself right out of it.
Last weekend, I was optimistic about the future, I had all the ducks in a row; my job would allow us to forge ahead despite the obvious challenges. My husband was feeling a little more "doom and gloom," directly influenced by the financial and business news, which is understandable. I countered that we should have a positive outlook on things since after all we both have jobs. I actually started to consider saving for a trip next year. We decided that when we were comfortable with the dent that we made on the business debt, we were going to go somewhere to celebrate, break our usual mold and surrender our usual penny-pinching selves. Alas it is not to be, yet again. I lost my job first thing Monday morning and he got an email the same day that his company planned to lay off nearly 500 people tomorrow.
Some would say have faith, the Lord works in mysterious ways, or we all have to pay our spiritual dues or we are lucky to be in a better position than many or we are simply lucky just to be alive and be happily married with children, or that we are fortunate to have a house or that we should be just downright grateful for everything.
Ask me again tomorrow what I think about that. Right now, I am definitely having trouble seeing the bright side.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Manic Stock Market Does Not Inspire Confidence
Hello Monday! The stock market went down 180 points today but this is no longer unusual; 2008 is the year of break-neck rallies and steep declines and lately we do not even know what each day will bring. First crude prices skyrocketed because of worldwide demand that was apparently out of our control; India China America
What is the average person who does not understand the nitty gritty of the financial markets but is an investor through a 401k or retirement account supposed to think with the market yo-yoing back and forth, especially over the past 4 months. Regular folk are depending on the market for their retirement and this type of manic market behavior does not inspire confidence. When are we going to get back to the business of investing?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Summertime and the Living...
Today I was thinking about summer and how much I love the summer and how much I love summer on Long Island. So, as the financial markets hit hurricane territory with another round of treasury-funded bailouts and billions more in loans to struggling financials, I was going to focus on enjoying the summer. Yet how can I ignore that since March, with the government bailout of Bear Stearns, the treasury has been putting out financial fires and plugging leaks with ever-increasing loans to the financial markets. And can it stop? No. Consider that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee and/or insure up to $5 trillion dollars in domestic mortgages. They cannot fail, not over the Treasury's dead body anyhow.
I started this week talking about one of my favorite events of the summer on Long Island so I was going to push the financial turmoil aside and not dwell on the doom and gloom, as I am wont to do. Alas, I cannot dismiss the nagging question, "Where is the money coming from? The U.S. is nearly $10 trillion in debt and it has been running on deficit spending for years. Do U.S. residents not realize that we make up the shortfall by borrowing, much of the funds coming from foreign governments and institutions? The treasury technically does not have the money to be the puppet master; propping up the economy with rebate checks, propping up the financial markets with loans, propping up the housing market with tax breaks and lest we forget, the ever escalating tab for the Iraq War. In addition, the Treasury has already borrowed the entire trillion dollar Social Security surplus and needs to repay Social Security when its current funds dwindle beyond sustenance amount. Lastly, all of this occurred amidst enormous tax-cuts but I digress…
Today was a simple meander through eastern Suffolk County within reasonable driving distance. We were looking for closer destinations where we could enjoy ourselves since in previous years we had no economic concern for our far flung destinations. To the tip of the North Fork, the South Fork, the North Shore, the South Shore and the in-between, we simply named it and we went. So we have to set our sights within reason not only to economize but also to conserve gasoline. We decided to check out a few bayside villages/hamlets that we had previously skipped over in our quest to visit the even more glorious. We enjoyed the views of the bay and the biggest bonus for the children, plenty of playgrounds on the water. Top that off with some home-made ice-cream and we thoroughly enjoyed our dollar-wise weather-wise perfect day.
I started this week talking about one of my favorite events of the summer on Long Island so I was going to push the financial turmoil aside and not dwell on the doom and gloom, as I am wont to do. Alas, I cannot dismiss the nagging question, "Where is the money coming from? The U.S. is nearly $10 trillion in debt and it has been running on deficit spending for years. Do U.S. residents not realize that we make up the shortfall by borrowing, much of the funds coming from foreign governments and institutions? The treasury technically does not have the money to be the puppet master; propping up the economy with rebate checks, propping up the financial markets with loans, propping up the housing market with tax breaks and lest we forget, the ever escalating tab for the Iraq War. In addition, the Treasury has already borrowed the entire trillion dollar Social Security surplus and needs to repay Social Security when its current funds dwindle beyond sustenance amount. Lastly, all of this occurred amidst enormous tax-cuts but I digress…
Today was a simple meander through eastern Suffolk County within reasonable driving distance. We were looking for closer destinations where we could enjoy ourselves since in previous years we had no economic concern for our far flung destinations. To the tip of the North Fork, the South Fork, the North Shore, the South Shore and the in-between, we simply named it and we went. So we have to set our sights within reason not only to economize but also to conserve gasoline. We decided to check out a few bayside villages/hamlets that we had previously skipped over in our quest to visit the even more glorious. We enjoyed the views of the bay and the biggest bonus for the children, plenty of playgrounds on the water. Top that off with some home-made ice-cream and we thoroughly enjoyed our dollar-wise weather-wise perfect day.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Reducing Energy Consumption: Do we have the power?
It is the 1st heat wave of the summer and my family is making do with our ceiling fans. We don’t have central air conditioning and though we usually put in 2 window units, we haven’t done so yet - the sudden heat catching us by surprise. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have some warmth in my bones since the weather has been rather cool and wet lately. If the current weather is any indication, keeping cool this summer will be a challenge for those people who cannot imagine life without air conditioning.
Considering that the price of home heating oil has now reached epic levels - $700+ fill-ups are the norm for those with the standard 250 gallon tank - the skyrocketing cost of fuel will also greatly affect the price of electricity needed to keep those air conditioners churning. The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has already raised the rates of the power supply portion of our electricity bill and further increases are expected. Therefore, according to their press release dated May 29, 2008, LIPA is proposing to allocate $140 million of a $213 million special fund (created when LIPA agreed to the KeySpan/National Grid merger) to reduce the burden of future increases in the Power Supply Charge over the next 30 months. This will amount to a $4 per month savings for the average ratepayer but these savings may evaporate quickly if fuel continues to rise.
While any savings, no matter how small, is welcome, short term solutions will only yield short term results. The cost of fuel is only one side of the equation. The capacity of the electric grid is already severely strained. We would accomplish more with a community-wide effort to reduce electric consumption thereby limiting fuel costs and easing the strain on the grid. After all, do we really need to cool our homes and buildings below 70 degrees in the summer and heat them up beyond 70 degrees in the winter? How many times have you had to reach for a sweater in the summer because the air conditioning was too cold? Or remove your sweater in the winter because the heat was too high? Will we ever give up our self-entitled comfort zone for the greater good? Now is the time to decide.
Considering that the price of home heating oil has now reached epic levels - $700+ fill-ups are the norm for those with the standard 250 gallon tank - the skyrocketing cost of fuel will also greatly affect the price of electricity needed to keep those air conditioners churning. The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has already raised the rates of the power supply portion of our electricity bill and further increases are expected. Therefore, according to their press release dated May 29, 2008, LIPA is proposing to allocate $140 million of a $213 million special fund (created when LIPA agreed to the KeySpan/National Grid merger) to reduce the burden of future increases in the Power Supply Charge over the next 30 months. This will amount to a $4 per month savings for the average ratepayer but these savings may evaporate quickly if fuel continues to rise.
While any savings, no matter how small, is welcome, short term solutions will only yield short term results. The cost of fuel is only one side of the equation. The capacity of the electric grid is already severely strained. We would accomplish more with a community-wide effort to reduce electric consumption thereby limiting fuel costs and easing the strain on the grid. After all, do we really need to cool our homes and buildings below 70 degrees in the summer and heat them up beyond 70 degrees in the winter? How many times have you had to reach for a sweater in the summer because the air conditioning was too cold? Or remove your sweater in the winter because the heat was too high? Will we ever give up our self-entitled comfort zone for the greater good? Now is the time to decide.
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