The Annual Heat Game

In New England, it's a point of pride to see how long you wait to turn on your heat. As long as the pipes aren't in danger of freezing, it's like a game of chicken to see who can last the longest. You'll hear people bragging at Thanksgiving that they haven't turned theirs on yet. (Blah blah blah. Less talking, more passing the gravy, please.) Last winter, I only made it to the middle of October. This year, I am determined to hold out till the bitter end, especially after receiving a crazy expensive oil bill last month. If you have my oil company, you were equally stunned by your last bill. Anyway, I consulted my online bible of local oil prices (http://www.energy.ri.gov/news/energyprices/oilprices.php), which is a very handy chart of what Rhode Island companies are charging per gallon, broken into a "low," "high" and "average" price. The price on my bill was almost a dollar over the listed "high," so I called the oil company to complain--and miraculously, they agreed to drop the charge by sixty cents a gallon. "We'll only do it this one time," said the rep.

But it seems odd that they could so mysteriously, drastically and instantly reduce the price.

Courtney tells me the first frost is on its way, so I thought I would pass this info along to those of you with oil heat so you can see how your next bill compares; if you don't like what you see, it's worth calling the oil company to see if they'll do better. And may we all make it through October without having to turn on the heat.