Heating oil sales continue despite prices

By Erin Remai
Herald Staff Writer

Mike Onyszczak said when he and his wife Pauline moved into their Shenango Township, home in 1947 they paid only 9 cents a gallon for heating oil.

When Onyszczak bought fuel oil from Wilmington Oil in late January, the price was $1.30 a gallon when he called on Monday and by Thursday when it was delivered it was up to $1.34 a gallon. In October, the previous time the Onyszczaks bought oil, it was about 90 cents a gallon. Onyszczak said the highest price he can remember paying for heating oil before this last fillup was $1.23 a gallon.

“If you need it, you need it,” Onyszczak said of the rising oil prices. “What are you going to do?”

To save oil, the Onyszczaks rely on a woodburner as a back-up heat source in very cold weather. As heating oil prices soar across the Northeast — to as much as $2 a gallon in many states — some supplier in Mercer County are feeling a chill, while others have not seen much of a difference. The price increase has not affected business at Brownie’s Oil Co. in Greenville very much; the company has kept up its sales and deliveries to homes and businesses. “We sell a little bit to everybody,” said owner Dan Brown.

Brown said his company has not seen a decrease in sales because, despite high prices, people still need heating oil.

“It’s unfortunate, people have to have it this time of year,” he said. “Some aren’t buying as much as usual, but they still have to have it because it’s cold.”

McQuiston Oil in northeastern Mercer County has not been as fortunate. The retail price for a gallon of oil has been $1.39 for about a week, owner Edward McQuiston said, and sales have been dropping off since the price started going up about three weeks ago. “It’s just about breaking us,” he said. “The price has more than doubled and we’ve had to sell it really high. Everyone is griping at us but we have to make a profit.” With higher heating oil prices, one would expect energy assistance applications to come flooding in, but that hasn’t been the case, said Mark Wasser, Mercer County Assistance Office Executive Director.

“We have not had a dramatic increase in applications,” he said. With only two weeks left in the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which the assistance office administers, the office has seen 3,274 applications. Last year’s total at the end of February was 3,436.

Wasser said some people in the community may be reluctant to apply for LIHEAP. Although the assistance office administers the program, LIHEAP is not a public assistance program and applicants do not have to receive public assistance to qualify.

“We do have some people in the community who would benefit from the program,” Wasser said. “I would urge people in the community to take advantage of the program with the cold weather and the rising costs (of heating oil).”

LIHEAP offers an average of $158 a month for fuel payments but can go as high as $300 for times of crisis. Wasser said people still have time to apply for the regular program, which ends at the end of the month, but the crisis program will continue through March.

“We would really like people to take advantage of the regular program first,” Wasser said, adding that people shouldn’t wait until a crisis is upon them.

To be eligible for the program, household income cannot exceed 110 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines, or for a one-person household, $9,064; two people, $12,166; three people, $15,268; four people, $18,370; five people, $21,472; and six people, $24,574. For larger households, the guidelines increase by $3,102 for each additional person.

Eligible applicants can call the assistance office at 983-5000 or (800) 747-8405.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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