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Do You Belong to a Fuel Co-op? SmartMoney Wants to Know!
By JLP | September 18, 2008
I was catching up on my email and I noticed that I received an email from Lisa Scherzer over at SmartMoney. She’s working on a column and wanted my help. Here’s her email:
Hi JLP. I’d love your help yet again.
I’m working on a story this week about fuel co-ops. I’d like to know if any of your readers are members of such groups, what are the benefits and downsides of being in one and what kind of cost savings on home heating fuel one can expect.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best,
Lisa
So, if you are a member of a fuel co-op and you would like to help Lisa out, either send me an email (JLP – at – AllFinancialMatters.com) or leave a comment below and I’ll put you in touch with Lisa.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 6 Comments »
September 18th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
No, no I don’t, but this sounds like a really interesting idea! Keep us readers updated!
September 18th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
We’ve been part of NYPIRG, a fuel buyers organization. We originally heated our home with oil, and because we were part of the fuel buyers group, the cost was below most oil companies. Now, we’ve converted to gas, and I’m not sure if we saved money last year, but its likely we did save a few hundred dollars.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Also haven’t heard of this — can we get an explanation?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Sounds like Costco for heating oil. Yes Costco sells gas, it’s usually not the most expensive but it’s rarely the cheapest station either. My guess is you won’t find many of these co-ops in existance any more. They may have made sense in pre-Internet time when oil dealers held an informational advantage over buyers. But today, people can click their mouse and shop around for oil instantly. Add to this the availability of heating oil ETFs for hedging and a co-op really has no value added function in the 21st century.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I have never hear of fuel co-ops. How do they work?
September 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am
In Massachusetts, we have something like this:
http://www.massenergy.com/Index.html
You can get discount heating oil through them and save 10-30 cents per gallon. Maybe other states have something similar.