Watch CBS News

Home Heating Oil Prices Lower Than Last Year (For Now)

WORCESTER (CBS) - People who heat their homes with oil are catching a break this year.

The average price of a gallon of home heating oil is around $3.40 a gallon right now, about 40-cents less than this time last year.

Forecasters estimate the cost to heat the average home this winter will be a little less than $2,000, compared to more than $2,300 last year.

"Customers are enjoying a lower cost of oil, which is a good thing. Lower prices are good for everybody, whether it's the price of oil or paying for less at the gas pump," Dennis O'Leary of Noar's Oil in Worcester told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Friday.

So should you lock in the price now?

O'Leary said most of his customers are signing up for a price cap instead.

"Simply put, that's putting a cap, just in case oil prices go up. But when oil prices come down you get to take advantage of the falling market," he said.

"These prices this year, who knows where they're going to end up. Hopefully, they stay down and everybody enjoys it through the winter. Really, supply and demand is going to determine that and what kind of winter we end up having."

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports

MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.