Domestic Heating Oil Prices: What Factors Affect the Price of Your Home Heating Oil?

When is a good time to buy, in order to get the cheapest heating oil?

This is definitely the million dollar question, and one that every user of heating oil will inevitably wonder at some point or another. Unfortunately, there is no single factor that determines oil prices, but rather, a complex range of factors that influence how much or how little you’ll have to pay.

Here are just a few things that can cause oil prices to fluctuate:

• Output. If, for any reason, output of oil decreases, then immediately, this pushes prices up, as the commodities traders will rush to buy the oil as soon as possible.

• Demand. In times of increased demand (for example, if there is a particularly cold period during the winter), oil reserves are used up more quickly, which drains the supplies. This in turn will push up prices.

• Crisis situations, such as war. When war breaks out (or even threatens to break out) in an oil-producing country, this can have a serious knock-on effect on oil prices. Commodities buyers will rush to buy oil, in the anticipation of supplies becoming limited in future months, and will charge more accordingly.

• Natural disasters. Very occasionally, natural disasters, such as hurricanes and flooding, can cause significant damage to offshore oil platforms. This again causes prices to rise.

However, the good news is that, for the last year or so, oil prices have been dropping or remaining stable, making now an excellent time to purchase cheap heating oil in bulk quantities.

Want to buy cheap heating oil? Book a boiler service and save in the long run

In addition to purchasing heating oil in bulk when the price is good, it makes financial sense to book your boiler in for regular servicing, to ensure that it runs to optimum efficiency. An inefficient boiler system can drain oil supply quite significantly, and cost you a lot of extra money in the long run.