Ways to SAVE page
The rising prices for fuel have us all beginning to look for ways to save on home heating. We have a number of ways that people can save and we’re always surprised when people don’t take advantage of them. Maybe the higher prices will have a positive affect on some wasteful habits and together we can reduce our use of fossil fuels and our negative affect on the environment. We can all do a little bit better – We’ve started the list with 9 ideas, if you have any, send them to us at waystosave@columbiafuels.com and we’ll add them to the list.
Start paying more for BioHeat™ Plus heating oil – it will actually save you more than you spend. The ‘Plus’ additive to BioHeat, Stove oil or heating oil costs you 3.5 cents more but it saves you between 5% and 12%. At current fuel prices that can mean savings of 7 to 17 cents for the investment of 3.5 cents. If you were guaranteed to double your money any other time in life – wouldn’t you? You save money, use less fuel and impact the environment less – Switch to BioHeat ‘Plus’
Consider upgrading your oil furnace to a higher efficiency oil furnace. Many people are using furnaces that operate at efficiency levels of about 60% while today’s new oil furnaces operate in the area of 84% efficiency. An average new furnace will cost you about $2600.00 to install, but if you currently spend $2000 to heat your home annually, that 24% increase in efficiency will save you $480.00 per year. Just over 5 years and you are cash positive on this investment and you are also impacting the environment less so you save in two ways.
Change the air filter on the furnace regularly. These filters range in price from a few dollars each and up but the most important thing is for them to be changed regularly so they are kept clean. A dirty filter means that the furnace has to work harder to push air through the filter – using more fuel to heat your home. Replace your filter regularly
Get your furnace tuned-up or if you own the home, get on our furnace protection plan. This will keep your furnace clean and working at optimal performance – using less fuel. Your furnace is just like you car – the older it gets the less efficient it becomes, the more it smoke it gives off , the more oil it burns, the less mileage you get and it could break down anytime. You need to give it an annual inspection and tune-up – doing this regularly will give you the most out of your car and your furnace. Your furnace has a fire burning in it while it sites in your basement in the dark – don’t ignore it – let us pay some attention to it once every year. It will save you money and the environment in the long run.
Use our Equalized Payment Program. You get to balance out your payments throughout the year and do it interest free. This often means that you’ve used oil and we haven’t made you pay for it yet – keep your money in the bank and keep it earning interest – pay us once a month. You won’t use any more fuel – you control the thermostat not us. Save some money by paying us monthly rather than for a full tank of fuel when we deliver it.
Get on our automatic delivery program. This works better for us as we get to schedule our delivery route and keep everyone in fuel without having to drive all over the island every day – when you join we are willing to pass along a bonus for making our life easier. We’ll give you 5 coupons each worth $100 of free heating fuel per year. By keeping your tank on automatic delivery, you also worry less about running out of fuel. Keeping your tank full creates less condensation which means less water in your fuel resulting in less tank rust. We’re always here to deliver fuel to you in those emergency cases – but wouldn’t you rather take $100 a year and relax without emergencies?
We’ve got a lot of discount offers and ways to pay that you should take advantage of. Our Equalized Payment Program and Automatic Delivery Program are two that give you some great value – but did you know we’ve got a seniors discount program? Did you know you can save postage or fuel driving to the bank by paying in other ways.. Check out all the payment methods and discounts that we offer.
We’ve just recently come online with a whole new website that allows our customers to log in to their account and save in a whole number of ways. Maybe you’ll save a tree by choosing to go paperless with Columbia Fuels, maybe you’ll save a little fuel by not having to drive to our office or the bank to pay us, or maybe you’ll just save a little peace-of-mind in knowing that you can now log in to your account anytime day or night and know exactly where you are with your account.
For ways to save on gasoline visit this link