Vermont Heating Oil Delivery

In Vermont 55% of all households use oil or kerosene as their main heating fuel. In Chittenden County, home to 90% of the Energy Co-op's customers and members, about 15,000 households heat with oil.

Scheduling winter
heating oil deliveries

Like other oil dealers, the Energy Co-op of Vermont delivers home heating oil with 2,800 gallon oil trucks which are supplied from terminals in Burlington and Essex Junction. In winter, we have three trucks on the road, delivering 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of heating oil a day. Heating with oil has environmental impacts. When burned in furnaces and boilers, heating oil, propane and natural gas all release carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change in roughly equal amounts. The best response to this threat is to use less heating oil.

Heating oil also contains sulfur, which contributes to acid rain and air pollution when burned in furnaces and boilers. Heating oil delivered in Vermont is allowed to contain up to 2,000 parts per million sulfur. However, more than 80% of the heating oil the Energy Co-op delivers to our members and customers is cleaner-burning, ultra low-sulfur heating oil, containing less than 15 parts per million sulfur.

Brookhaven Laboratory
Emissions Analysis

When we compare the environmental costs of different heating fuels, ultra low-sulfur fuel oil compares favorably with natural gas, which is often touted as a “clean” fuel.

There are Other Benefits with Low-Sulfur Oil

Furnaces and boilers that burn ultra low-sulfur heating oil require less routine maintenance and fewer repairs. That means lower service bills for our heating oil members and customers.