"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
eonecommunications...

I don't really know much about how the retail home delivery heating oil
industry works.

But, the recent plummet in crude prices has me wondering what kind of fun
and games are going to take place between fuel oil dealers and their
customers who engaged in fixed price contracts for the coming heating
season back when prices were ascending at an unbelievable rate.

I assume the dealers must have entered into futures purchasing contracts
with their suppliers to protect them against further price increases and
those contracts will have to be honored by the dealers unless they choose
bankrupcy instead.

I can forsee that the dealers are going to have a helluva time getting all
the customers who entered into guaranteed price contracts with them to
cough up what they agreed to pay when the retail market price of heating
oil drops significantly. Particularly so if those customers are being
negatively hit by other aspects of the current crazy economy and use that
as a justification to default on their contracts.

It should be interesting....Educated comments appreciated.

Jeff


Shrug. Makes no difference here. I pay once a year, up front, and get a
"locked-in" rate, which is about .25 cents a gallon less than the current
"pay as you go" rate. I "locked-in" at $3.59, but that only means that they
can't deduct any more than that per gallon for any deliveries for the entire
year. If the price drops below the "lock-in" rate, then I pay less. My
delivery last week was $3.29 a gallon. If oil drops down to last year's
rates, I will probably be paid up for nearly an extra year.