Welcome

EARLY JUNE 2025 FUEL BUYING UPDATE

Dear Fuel User,

We realize that summer is here, and most people don't want to think about winter and home heating. Yet, this is when we negotiate the best prices for propane, oil, and kerosene.

Our enrollment window for the 2025-2026 heating season will be opening later this month, and we'll be announcing it via Facebook, our website, and email.

HEATING OIL: Right now the oil market is stable. Our prices will be lower than other companies in our area. Once we open enrollment in a few weeks, the fixed price and the CAP price will be subject to change every Tuesday at 5pm, as it has in past years. Once you enroll, your price will be locked-in for the season.

PROPANE: The cost of LP has risen a bit due to fixed costs, like insurance and employment costs.

We thank you again for your membership.

Yours,
The team at MHFBC

SPRING 2025 FUEL BUYING UPDATE

Dear Fuel User,

As the sun's warmth chases away the remnants of winter's bitter weather, we are taking the opportunity to make some important announcements, and reflect on the 2024-2025 heating season.

Offers from Other Fuel Suppliers

Some of our members have recently received emails with heating oil offers from our previous supplier. While these prices appear to be reasonable, our goal is to work with Bottini to meet or improve pricing... both for the fuel itself, and also for service contracts and other optional add-on equipment and services. We have found Bottini to be both transparent, and willing to work with us. We see a benefit in working with a local, family-owned company.

Expanding Our Membership

We hope to increase our membership in order to increase our bargaining power. Please help us spread the word to friends and neighbors about our attractive pricing, through both social media and word of mouth.

Our Name Change

We have changed our name to the Mid-Hudson Fuel Buyers Community (MHFBC). Our web address is now midhudsonfuelbuyers.org.

Reflections on the 2024-2025 Heating Season

This past winter had periods of unusually cold weather. Bottini tells us parts of the Hudson River froze, and blocked their riverside docks. Icebreakers were even required. Fortunately, this did not impair trucks from making home deliveries. However, the weather increased usage, and it might have caused some customers to run precariously low.

We have conducted a post-winter review, comparing of our negotiated prices with Bottini and Paraco against several indexes. These other pricing sources include those published by New York State Energy Research Division (NYSERDA), price reporting from the Oil Price Information Service ("OPIS", a Dow Jones service), New York Harbor (NYMEX), pricing reported by the US Energy Information Service (EIA), and occasionally the prices from other local fuel and propane distribution companies. Overall, we concluded that our pricing plans were fair and equitable, with discounts that we consider successful for our community. Members who bought heating oil saved between $0.58 and $0.69 per gallon. Propane users saved between $0.67 and $1.07 per gallon. Going forward, we will continue our efforts to use our collective buying power to obtain superior pricing and service.

Our Upcoming 2025-2026 Heating Season

Our negotiating team has started the process of working on heating oil prices with Bottini for the 2025-26 heating season. We expect to soon start negotiations with Paraco for propane. The price environment this year is lower as compared to last year, so we believe it will be better for us to conclude these negotiations soon. Since we're still in negotiations, we don't know yet when this year's membership application and supplier contract window will open. We'll be making an announcement when the application window is open.

We thank you for your membership.

Yours sincerely,
The team at MHFBC

Members Who Use Bottini Fixed Rate:

After you use up your estimated gallons, your price will revert to $0.70 above Bottini's variable rate.

Today (1/16/25) that rate is $3.41.