Home heating oil price hike hurts Islanders

By CBC News
Islanders are starting to feel the pinch after another hike in heating oil prices overnight.
To cut corners on her heating oil costs, Andrea MacInnis supplies her furnace with oil from the Queen's Arms Esso station in Charlottetown.
She said she can only afford to buy a small amount at a time."It doesn't make me feel good. I wish I could just make the phone call and have somebody deliver it, but I can't afford it. So, there's nights that I don't have any heat," she said.
"It's hard for everybody to heat their homes and everything goes up but wages.
The price hike for heating oil won't help. Home heating oil on P.E.I. jumped five cents early Tuesday morning, while diesel rose six cents a litre.
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission said significant increases in the wholesale price in early November are the reason costs are climbing.
The maximum allowable price for furnace oil, not including GST, is now 107.4 cents per litre. In November 2010, the price for heating oil was 84.8 cents per litre.
IRAC said the main reason for the latest price hike is an increase in crude oil costs and demand.
Increasing oil prices also puts pressure on organizations like the Eastern School District because 36 of its schools use oil.
Last year, the district spent almost its entire contingency fund on heat, superintendent Ricky Hood said.
"For us to come in on target, we'd hope that the price would be lower and, of course, that the weather conditions would be more favourable," he said. "That would bring our consumption down."
If the district is over budget again, they'll have to turn to the province for money. But the province is no better off.Alan Maynard, who oversees government facilities like Province House, office buildings and jails, said increasing fuel prices means some projects may have to be delayed.
"Look at what our spending has been up to date, see where we've made any savings in some of the work that we've done this year for renovations and maintenance," Maynard said.
"If there's savings there, we'll certainly hang on to that, not look at new initiatives for the remainder of the year and save that money so we can cover off any of these fuel increases that we're seeing."
There was no change to the price of gas, which at self-serve stations, continues to cost anywhere from 117.5 to 119.6 cents per litre.
There was also no change in propane prices.
IRAC's next scheduled price adjustment will be Dec. 1.