Oil – contract or COD?

With the price of oil not likely to go down significantly and our oil contract expiring soon, I’m trying to figure out whether I should try to lock in at a price or do COD and try to find better prices whenever we need oil. What are the pros and cons?

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

For us, we have always done COD bc it was always cheaper. We have a brand new oil burner & hot water tank, so for us, having the service contract was not necessary. In the 3 years in our house, we never had a problem with COD oil. Last night we did figure out that we did spend $400 more this year bc of the cost of oil since we filled up 2 times less..

DH & I have been toying with alternative ways to heat the house next winter especially if the cost of oil continues to rise. We can't convert to gas bc there are no lines in our area.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

COD. Especially considering what the prices are like now and that they will most likely drop come summer. You don't want to lock in on any prices right now. It's MUCH cheaper that way. Just call up and get a service contract with an oil company for your burner. That usually runs around $100 for the year.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

Thanks! I *thought* COD made more sense but wanted to bounce it off someone else.

We've been thinking about installing a wood burning stove in our living space (includes a kitchen/den/living room in an open area). I don't know what the cost is of installing one though so I'm not sure if it makes sense. But the oil prices are so RIDICULOUS we have to come up with something!

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We always pay COD b/c of the price fluctuating so much.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We do a service contract and a lock in oil rate. Just because we don't know how long our boiler will last. We do balanced billing though for our oil.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We have always done balance billing and we pay for 12 months instead of just in the winter.
We are currently paying $185/month.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We do a lock in on the oil price with a contract - pay as they deliver.
We lucked out this past year - locked in at $2.59...I'm worried what is going to happen for next year.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

That's an excellent balanced billing rate! We did balanced billing with Petro two years ago - paid $278/month and at the end of the year, Petro sent us a bill for $4000 and told us they'd underestimated our usage.

We have a small house and don't put the heat above 64 so I was PO'd. Not sure I'd do balanced billing again.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We did a service contract with Slomins. The price they quoted us at was the same that COD was going for at the time. The service contract is an additional charge. I just like the piece of mind if anything happens. We are still locked in at 2.69 from last October. I dread what my new lock will be when the time comes.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

We tried COD when our last contract ran out to try and save money. To make a long story short, the gauge on the oil tank wasn't working properly (which we didn't know) so without our regular oil deliveries we ran out of oil. That was a fun day. We now have a contract again.

Re: Oil – contract or COD?

My folks are part of the fuel buyers group and they locked in a low price last summer somewhere in the $2-3 range.