I hope you had a fantastic Labor Day. As Matt said in his article, we’ll be wrapping up another fiscal year at the end of September. The end of the fiscal year is always an important time for me. If someone else is writing this newsletter article next month, you can assume that the energy division had a bad year. If I’m writing the article next month, you can hypothesize that either we had a good year or that Matt felt sorry for me. I’ll take a victory any way I can get it.
September 22nd will be the first day of Autumn. Starting my furnace up for the first time in the fall is always a treat. I live in an old farmhouse and the first time that baby fires up I get a whiff of something that resembles burning hair, dust, insects and mouse poo. It isn’t pleasant, but fortunately it only lasts a few minutes. Then it’s back to the normal ancient farmhouse smell.
Before you fire up your furnace, be sure to see if it’s due for a service. It’s never a bad idea to have a technician give it a checkup before the heating season. You never know what may have given birth in your heating system in the off season. If you have conventional filters, they should be changed every three months. Start on the fall equinox and hit all of the solstices and equinoxes and you’ll be golden. I write the date on my filter in case I forgot the last time I changed it.
If you’re swapping a fuel oil furnace for a propane furnace, there is a $300 rebate available through the Wisconsin Propane Education and Research Council. We can get you hooked up with that rebate if you’re buying propane from us.
Thinking about replacing your old fuel oil furnace? Switching to a 95% efficient propane furnace could cut your heating costs by about 40%.
If you currently burn 500 gallons of fuel oil at 70% efficiency, that’s around $1,575 per winter. Propane would cost about $945, saving you $630 a year, or over $3,150 in five years. Plus, propane is cleaner and better for the environment. Want to double-check my numbers? Try one of the many online fuel cost calculators.
If you are going into the harvest season and would like to lock in your diesel fuel, give Shane McCully a call at 608-504-6281. If you’re not currently buying your diesel fuel from us, give us a shot. We’ve got a great tank lease program, exceptional Cenex products, and reasonable prices. We can’t give you the lowest price if we’re competing against someone selling you fuel oil for your tractor, but we will give you the best value.
Lastly, if you haven’t sent your propane contract in yet, it’s not too late. Call your local Premier energy office and make sure the price hasn’t changed before you send it. Thank you for your business and hopefully you’ll be hearing from me next month.
