September 3, 2025
Update, 9-3-2025. Prices still a bit volatile, and the market is indicating a near term up and down movement, but a long term downward future slope. That’s not a prediction, just what the futures market projects.
Many of our customers have asked about energy prices these days, so we wanted to provide as much commentary as possible based on the information we have. Over the last year, the United States has regained a great deal of its energy independence, and largely stabilized energy prices, especially propane. Heating oil, which is the same product essentially as diesel fuel is much more of a global market and is influenced by global events, such as the recent conflict in the Middle East. That being said, with global supply being very adequate, the volatility from world events may cause prices to rise rapidly but also fall rapidly as has happened in the last week.
The benefits of Propane
One thing of importance that we need to point out is that while the crude oil, and hence gasoline and heating oil move with global markets in a somewhat volatile fashion, propane is a very stable priced product, and very competitively priced at that.
The reason being is that most of our propane sold in New England comes directly from the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania. This is a domestic and very stable energy source that has provided tremendous benefit to the citizens of New England. Combined with today’s high efficiency propane boilers and furnaces, propane heat and hot water are now among the most energy efficient and cost-effective solutions for a homeowner. Combine that with the fact that you can use propane for a variety of different applications such as cooking, close drying, gas log sets, pool heating, and much much more. If your heating system, or your fuel oil storage tank are more than 20 years old, and you’re considering upgrading to a new heating system or fuel storage system, it’s time to take a good hard look at upgrading to propane.
If you wish to get more information, please refer to our propane energy page here: Propane – Sippin Energy Products
What should a homeowner do?
As difficult as it is to predict the future, here are number things you can do to help manage energy costs moving forward.
- Enroll in our budget plan program (if you have currently not taken advantage of this). The budget plan will balance your annual cost evenly over the next 12-month period.
- Take advantage of our SmartCap program. This program will provide a capped price for your heating fuel or propane, to protect you from increasing prices, and the provide lower prices when the market corrects in the future. Because this program is based on commodities futures, which are currently in a declining state (referred to as backward dated), the capped price will generally be substantially lower than the current retail rate.
- If your heating system and oil tank are over 20 years old, you may want to consider converting your heating system to propane, which is currently running approximately 40% less in cost than heating oil. As mentioned previously, because this is generally a domestically produced and consumed fuel, it is remained stable and abundant, and can be used for many other purposes other than heating and hot water.
- Lastly, everyone can take advantage of energy conservation measures. There are some easy ones such as setback/programmable thermostats which can easily save a homeowner 10% or more. Home upgrades such as insulation in window/door upgrades are also a long-term wise decision. Weatherproofing such as door seals are also very helpful.
- Space heating is also a sensible choice for some homeowners, this simply means that if you occupy one portion of your home such as a living room or family room most of the time, you can heat that zone normally and reduce the heating and all other zones of your home. This can also be accomplished with a ductless mini split/heat pump, or a propane room heater.
Above all, Sippin energy is committed to the security of your home heating needs and will make sure that our products and services remain uninterrupted in the future.
If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to email our customer service staff at csr@sippin.com
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Gary L. Sippin, President, COO