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 You can get prices and enroll in any
available oil price protection program by
clicking on the MY ACCOUNT button
(located at the bottom of the Sippin Web navigation bar). or by telephone direct to our Customer Service Department at
1-800-994-FUEL. Prices for these programs are set daily, so you can pick
when you would like to enroll in a program.
Oil Price Protection plans are available
year-round. All Oil Price Protection Plans are based on estimated annual
consumption, and are based on daily market prices. All Oil Price Protection agreements must
be confirmed in writing (or electronic agreement ). Fixed price and capped price plans have a fee
to cover the cost of the insurance provided by Sippin Energy, this fee must
be paid at the time the price protection plan is put into affect. By
Connecticut state law, all contracted oil purchases are protected by futures
contracts, bonding, or stored bulk fuel.
Click here for our
telephonic Terms & Conditions Agreement
SmartCap
(Price Cap Plan )
This plan provides an opportunity to protect you against increases in heating oil prices,
and allow a you to buy oil at a lower rate should prices fall. By choosing the
SmartCap Plan, you will know in advance
the highest price you will pay for your UltraBio4® heating oil. If market
prices fall below the cap rate, you will always pay the lower price!
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 This plan provides protection against
dramatic increases or decreases in fuel cost.
- Ceiling fuel prices for the Price Cap Plan
may be higher than other plans because they incorporate "insurance" costs
that are used to provide protection against dramatic falling fuel prices.
- This plan covers a fixed quantity of
gallons, and is based on estimated annual fuel consumption
- CLICK HERE
FOR PRICE CAP Q & A
Flex-Price
Plan
This
is floating price plan for our exclusive UltraBio4® high performance heating
fuel that’s available at no cost to you.
- Fuel prices for Flex Pricing are not
fixed, but based on a state-wide average of retail fuel prices. They
have historically ranged somewhere in between capped and fixed prices
- Depending upon your usage, you may even qualify for a
prompt payment discount!
- This program is available at no charge
Fixed Price / Pre-buy Plan
This plan will allow you to purchase your annual supply of
UltraBio4®
heating oil at an attractive FIXED rate while maintaining the convenience of
automatic delivery. This plan is available with several payment options,
including:
- Pre-buy (1-Payment)
- 3 equal monthly payments
- 6 equal monthly payments
- This plan covers a fixed quantity of
gallons, and is based on estimated annual fuel consumption
- This plan provides protection against
increases in heating oil prices. This is beneficial should heating oil
prices stay the same or increase
- This plan does not provide protection
for decreases in heating oil prices
Can a contract be terminated?
Yes. An oil price protection plan
may be terminated, or liquidated at any time during it's term. With our
SmartCap, there are NO EARLY TERMINATION OR LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FEES.
On a fixed price agreement that is terminated early, a
liquidated damages charge must be paid equal to to the difference between
the contracted oil price and the prevailing price of the same program at the
time of termination, multiplied by the remaining undelivered program
gallons.
For example: If 1000 gallons of oil were purchased and remain
undelivered at $4.00 / gal and the current rate per gallon is $3.00 / gallon
for the same plan, the liquidated damages fee would be $1.00 / gallon X
1,000 gallons or $1,000.00. This is something to consider if you feel
the price of oil is likely to go down below the current level.
Why is there a cost to liquidate a
contract?
When a customer requests and agrees to purchase oil on a
fixed price contract, Sippin Energy is required by law to immediately
purchase and secure that oil for the customer. This is a requirement
of the Connecticut Department Consumer Protection Agency, which
regularly examines our records to ensure compliance. The dealers cost,
selling price and gross margin are at that moment "locked in". This is
what allowed dealers to honor their customers' locked in price contracts
when the price of oil skyrocketed to nearly $5.00 a gallon in 2007/2008.
In a falling market, there is no benefit what so ever to the dealer, as the
oil has already been purchased by the dealer at a higher price.
In essence, it's like anything purchased that drops in value (stocks,
mortgage rates etc), we can't forecast the future, and we can't make the
value more than it is. As it clearly states on our oil price
protection page, customers must fully understand that locking in to a fixed
price plan carries a risk that a customer has to accept. Over the long
run, consumers have benefited from oil price protection. In fact, in
the 15 years Sippin Energy has provided these programs, they have benefited
homeowners all but 2 years. But that said, there is always a risk with
any "lock-in" program. If this risk is something you wish to avoid, we
highly recommend our capped rate program. This program as explained
above provides protection from increasing prices, but will allow a customer
to purchase oil at a lower price should the market price fall.
Why is there no cost to liquidate a
SmartCap contract?
A SmartCap contract is protected by the purchase of a
commodity option, which is charged to the customer when the contract is
initiated. Once this coverage is purchased, the contracted gallons are
protected for both the customer and the dealer. If the contract is
terminated early, there are no liquidated damages fees, however the option
protection paid is not refundable.
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