Oil holds, propane creeps up: Upper Valley prices, Oct. 27

Every Tuesday I call local dealers for their heating oil and propane prices. This week I got prices from 14 dealers for oil and 11 for propane. It was a quieter week than the last one, but a few dealers moved a lot.

The short version:

• Heating oil held steady. Of the 14 dealers, seven held their price, five cut it (by 5 to 10 cents), and two raised it. The lowest price is still $5.69/gal.
• Propane crept up. Four of the 11 dealers raised their price, two cut it, and five held. The lowest is now $2.34/gal, up from $2.20.
• The propane gap is still huge. The cheapest and priciest propane are $1.81 a gallon apart. For oil it’s 72 cents.

Heating oil: steady, a few cents lower

Country Fuels and Inov8v Energy each came down a dime, R.E. Hinkley 9 cents, CV Oil 7 cents and Dead River 5 cents. Eastern Propane & Oil went up a dime, and Gillespie Fuels & Propane 2 cents. The typical price, the middle of the 14, is $6.20, about 3 cents lower than the same dealers last week.

Heatable and Rymes Propane & Oil are still tied for the lowest price at $5.69/gal. Rymes has now been at $5.69 for four weeks running, since Oct. 6.

Six of the 14 are below the Vermont average of $6.10 (Vermont Department of Public Service, week of Oct. 26). New Hampshire’s survey that week was $6.04.

On a 200-gallon delivery, the difference between the cheapest dealer ($5.69) and the priciest ($6.41) is $144.

Propane: up at four dealers

R.E. Hinkley, last week’s cheapest at $2.20, went up 46 cents to $2.66. Dead River went up 26 cents, to $3.75. Inov8v Energy rose a dime and Rymes 7 cents. Gillespie came down 4 cents and Simple Energy a penny.

Rymes is now the cheapest, at $2.34/gal. But it’s worth noting that Rymes has gone up every week I’ve called: $1.94 on Oct. 6, $2.20, $2.27, and now $2.34.

The spread is still the story. Rymes is at $2.34 and HB Energy Solutions at $4.15. For a house that burns about 800 gallons of propane a year, that’s about $1,870 against $3,320 a year. Ten of the 11 dealers came in under the Vermont average of $3.93, and all 11 were under New Hampshire’s $4.17.

A year ago, oil was $2.63 a gallon cheaper

In the week of Oct. 27, 2025, the Vermont average for heating oil was $3.47/gal (U.S. Energy Information Administration). This week the state survey has it at $6.10, about 76% higher.

Propane is up much less: $3.58 a year ago, $3.93 now.

Heat for heat, propane is still cheaper

A gallon of oil holds more heat than a gallon of propane (about 138,500 BTU against 91,500, per the EIA). Here’s what a million BTU of heat costs at this week’s prices, before your boiler’s or furnace’s efficiency:

“Typical” is the middle price of the dealers I called. Oil at $5.69 matches propane at about $3.76 a gallon.

Before you call

• Ask if it’s the pay-on-time price. Nine of the 14 oil prices above are the price if you pay on time, usually within 10 days (15 at Dead River). Pay late and it’s typically a dime more, 20 cents at CV Oil.
• Ask about the minimum. Eastern Propane & Oil delivers as little as 50 gallons, at $5.95/gal. Rymes, tied for the cheapest, needs 200 gallons. Most dealers start at 100.
• Ask if it’s for a tank you own. All the propane prices here are for a customer who owns their tank. If you lease, your price may be quite a bit higher.

All prices here are cash-on-delivery prices from my calls on Tuesday, Oct. 27, for a standard delivery. Thomson Fuels isn’t in this week’s numbers; I didn’t get a price from them. Prices change often, so confirm with the dealer before you order. See every dealer’s current price, and the prices in your town, on the price list.