September 30, 2000

Heating oil campaign stokes gas cost fears

With soaring gas and oil prices, Northeast consumers can count on an expensive winter. They can also expect heightened rhetoric, as heating oil associations take to the airwaves to inveigh against natural gas conversion.

A recent radio advertisement cautioned consumers against making the switch to gas, saying that conversion could cost them as much as $3,500. The radio ad -- sponsored by the Metropolitan Energy Council, a coalition of heating oil associations in northern New Jersey, southern Connecticut and the New York City region -- said that gas utilities were misleading customers about the benefits of switching to gas.

The New York Oil Heating Assn. (NYOHA), a member of the Metropolitan Energy Council, had similar warnings for consumers on its website.

"Oil heat is just as clean, efficient and in abundant supply," NYOHA said. "They [gas utilities] don't talk about price. In regions where they compete with oil heat, utility gas is more expensive to the consumer."

In tandem with the radio and Internet campaign, the heating oil industry is also encouraging conversion to oil with rebates on oil- fired heating equipment. NYOHA said that consumers can receive a $500 rebate when they purchase a new boiler or furnace from an affiliated company.

NYOHA has also taken up the issue of safety. "Unlike natural gas, fuel oil is neither flammable nor explosive and inhalation of oil fumes cannot cause death," it said in its web posting.

Whatever the merits of that argument, it is clear that the oil heating industry is looking to win points on pipeline safety and reliability concerns. The NYOHA consumer information site says that "in extremely cold weather, natural gas customers can be subject to pressure drops in the pipelines," causing interruptions in heat.

John Maniscalco of NYOHA also pointed to a recent article in New York Newsday, which said that heating oil in the New York vicinity remains a cheaper option than gas heat.

The recent campaign echoes earlier reports produced by the heating oil industry. Back in May, a study commissioned by the Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Assn. warned that the cost of conversion to gas would outweigh any benefits to Northeast consumers (GD 5/18). "The policies [backed by the Energy Dept.] to reduce regional reliance on heating oil are . . . unlikely to reduce uncertainties about energy costs for customers," the study concluded.

http://www.naturalgas.com/

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 01, 2000

Answers

Hard to believe, but at a time like this such a competitive fight is developing? Neither is going to be able to deliver proficiently.

As Rodney King would say, "Can't we all just get along?"

-- JackW (jpayne@webtv.net), October 01, 2000.

What surprises me is that the folks using heating oil have furnaces, instead of a water cooled diesel generator, it would actually be more fuel effiecent. The shaft output could be used to pump the water and spin a generator making something called electricity, instead of using electricity to pump the water. And just think when the grid goes down those folks whould still have electricity. And we know a winter storm is always just around the corner.

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), October 01, 2000.