Price of heating oil

I just got my first bill of the season, for $2.44/gallon. That's higher than last year (my lowest was $1.69/gallon) but lower than the $4.30 I paid in 2012. Does anyone have any idea what prices will be doing this year?

I started a very long winded rant about this related to why diesel and heating oil prices are not pegged in NJ the way they are most places, and then decided no-one is as nuts as I am about this topic and simplified my response.

Diesel is pretty similar chemically. Price at the pump for that has swung from $1.95 this summer to about $2.20 right now. I think we can expect this year to be up 30-50 cents a gallon to 2015-16 winter.

I'd love to read your rant. It's my understanding that heating oil and diesel are identical except for the red color that is added to diesel. I've also read that heating oil should always be less expensive than diesel (although evidently not in NJ, as you mentioned).

Back some years ago when prices were very high, I was surprised to see that diesel was being sold for quite a bit less than I was paying. I was seriously trying to figure out if I could haul it home from the gas station a couple of five-gallon jugs at a time.

Diesel fuel should cost more because it includes highway use taxes.

kthnry said:

I'd love to read your rant. It's my understanding that heating oil and diesel are identical except for the red color that is added to diesel. I've also read that heating oil should always be less expensive than diesel (although evidently not in NJ, as you mentioned).

Back some years ago when prices were very high, I was surprised to see that diesel was being sold for quite a bit less than I was paying. I was seriously trying to figure out if I could haul it home from the gas station a couple of five-gallon jugs at a time.

You could have/can