The sellers on these sites are consumers who have switched to alternative fuel sources to heat their homes, leaving them with surpluses of unused heating oil. Escalating oil prices and fears of future price hikes and oil shortages have created a significant secondary market for these surpluses in the form of homeowners with oil heat who are looking to stock up.
Energy experts anticipate higher-than-ever oil prices in the coming cold months. Debra Dodd of Consumer Energy said, “[Prices] are going to be higher. We tend to follow the gasoline price.”
Oil prices are not expected to drop significantly anytime soon. One popular theory, “peak oil,” suggests that oil prices are mounting due to shortages in the global supply.
As a result, many consumers have found alternate ways of heating their homes, including wood-pellet furnaces and geothermal systems.