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What and Why

The Nutmegger Oil Group was created to leverage neighbors to get a better deal on home heating oil collectively than we can as individual households. We select the oil company with the strongest offer, which includes a constellation of factors: lowest price + service + reputation. 

We wish for you the same thing we wish for ourselves: to not get gouged on something we have to buy anyway. Not getting scammed by an oil company is right up there with finding the perfect parking spot, having a traffic-free commute, and getting upgraded to first class. It gives us joy.

Who and Where

Emily Hau and Heather Dubrosky manage the group as a public service. Emily works in data science at Yale University. Heather Dubrosky directs strategic partnerships at Boehringer Ingelheim. Our group has more than 700 families from all over Connecticut. Nutmegger group members contracted nearly 1,000,000 gallons of oil last season (2024-2025).  Our current oil company services as far north as Cheshire and as far south as Stamford. Our specific coverage area will depend on the company selected, which can vary year to year depending on best and lowest offer.

What you can expect

  • You can expect an annual contract, which will begin on the date you agree to begin with the oil company. We don't set start date, but we do set the end date. We ask the company we select to end contracts by June 30th so we can all start about the same time next year, even if your specific household was already in a contract somewhere else until November.
  • This contract will be with the oil company (not the group) 
  • The contract will be for automatic delivery.
  • Budget plans are available if you prefer to pay a set amount monthly instead of getting hammered by bills in high usage months (eg December, January, and February).
  • Forgiveness for unused oil. It is better to overestimate than to underestimate oil consumption. If you overestimate, there is no penalty for any unused oil at the end of your contract term. NOTE: if you underestimate, you may get charged at a higher per gallon out-of-contract rate. That grinds us, and is the opposite of saving money, so please, ask for a little more than you think you need.

 

How to Join

You are a member of the Nutmegger Oil Group just by saying so. We make annual changes as a group. If we get a better offer the following year somewhere else, we collectively cut ties. It is not our intention to make changes to our provider, but we have a duty to secure the best contract available, and if we all have to move, so be it. Your contract is with the oil company selected. The group negotiates the deal, you opt-in annually. No cost to join. We collectively benefit via increased bargaining power year over year as the group grows. No hard feelings if you go a different way. It is just to save money. We do not charge anything to be in the group. Completely free to join. Free to stay. Free to leave. We are pleased to report greater than 94% of our members stick with the group year over year. 

When 

  • May is contract negotiation month. We call nearly every oil company in southeastern Connecticut to negotiate the best deal we can on behalf of the group.
  • June is the sign-up period. We'll notify you of the contract we negotiated. Do not fail to sign-up with the oil company if you wish to, or we cannot guarantee your terms. Want to be sure you'll be notified? Add yourself to the notification list.

Emily's Advice on Fixed vs Capped Pricing

I've charted it, and I believe with my whole heart that a fixed-price contract will get you the lowest annual heating bill on average.

Capped pricing is when you pay $x/g for the hedge against the fluctuating price of oil. You never pay more than the capped price, but if the price goes down, you could pay less. It sounds like a no-downside choice, but it usually doesn't pay off the way you think it would.

"But Emily, I really think capped pricing will benefit me because the price of oil could go down a lot." Sure, the price could go down a lot, but will it go down by enough for you to actually pay a lower price? You get charged a $0.30/gal fee (Sidebar: some companies charge $0.50/gal cap rate AND a flat fee of $500/year. Isn't that bananas? I won't consider more than +$0.30/gal for capped rate and I'll cut off my finger before I pay a $500 fee in addition) for the benefit of a capped price. That $0.30/gal fee is in addition to the fixed price rate. If the market price goes down, it has to go down by more than $0.30/gal below the capped rate to see any difference at all. The market price is the retail price for an average person to just call up and get some oil. Could it happen? Sure. Does it? Not often enough to end up with a lower annual cost in most years. But, that's just my opinion and experience. Some of our group members want a capped rate, and they should have what they want, so I will negotiate a price for the capped rate, but know that my opinion is you'll pay more than the fixed rate people, and I look at the numbers a lot.

Emily's Caveats on Predicting Oil Markets

I am not in possession of a crystal ball that helps me see into the future. I cannot predict what future world events will do to the price of home heating oil. I think about oil a lot more than the average person. We will not be right every year. We can be right most years. I can't guarantee the price won't go down, nor that I will manage to hit the lowest price of the year. I promise you my best effort to get you a price that will make you feel smug when you think about it. More than 94% of the group has remained with the group year over year. There are no bad feelings if you decide to go a different way. 

Make it even cheaper

There are two things you can do to get another $0.05/gal off:

  1. Leave a credit card on file with the oil company to be billed on delivery. This gets your price down an additional $0.05/gal. Saves you $50 on every 1,000 gallons.
  2. Set-up a monthly budget plan where you pay an equal amount monthly.

Data Collection

We keep track of email addresses to notify you of the contract, but we will not use your information for any other purpose. We will never sell your data. We collect no billing information.

Rules and Your Obligations As A Group Member

Please tell someone about the group. Your mail carrier. Your IT guy. Your neighborhood Facebook page. Your annoying co-worker who is like the big sister you never wanted. Your neighbor. Someone. We get a low low rate by bringing in lots of customers who are signing up for an already negotiated contract. That's a win-win situation. You get a referral credit additionally for every person you bring in. That's a third win. You have to buy oil anyway. Share the joy of paying less.

You may not use the name of our oil company in social media postings. Our oil company has existing customers who get their panties in a wad when they discover some Nut(megger)s are getting a better deal than they are, and it causes problems.  Failure to publicly divulge the company may result in awkward situations on social media where people get annoyed that you want them to private message you or to email you to get the name of the company we contract with. We are sympathetic, but you're just going to have to deal with that. This is the bargain we made, and we all have to live by it. No posting the name of the oil company on social media. Not even on NextDoor. Got it? We do advise telling people to get on the notification list for our next contract by emailing thenutmeggeroilgroup@gmail.com and asking to be notified of the next contract sign-up. No obligation, and they get the option to sign-up. Do remind them to remember to use your name as their referral so you get credit if they join. Tell enough people, and your oil bill gets to zero. This is our favorite game, and we play it every year. It's easy when the group has the best price.

I get a better deal with cashheatingoil(dot)com

  • No you don't. Maybe you think you do. Maybe some years you have, but on average, a contract always trumps piece-meal ordering. If you paid less than we did for oil on average over the last ten years, we'll eat our hat.
  • The price of oil fluctuates. Try not to get lost in the daily rate of a no-contract delivery company. Try not to compulsively check the price on cashheatingoil.com because first of all, we're doing it often enough for both of us, and secondly, it is the annual price that matters.

  • If you call in July and say, "Ha, gotcha Emily, the price for no-contract oil delivery is $0.03/gal lower than your contract price," Emily will answer that call and explain with more words than you wanted that you cannot compare no-contract oil with contract oil. It's like comparing a one-night stand with a spouse. They might look like each other, but they probably aren't the same. Additionally, any savings you get in July using a no-contract company is torpedoed by 1) winter; 2) having to pay for annual cleaning; and 3) heaven forbid you have to call someone for service. We will get you the lowest price we can, our word on it, but like all things, selecting when to lock in for more than 500,000 gallons of oil is a little like deciding where the wind will be blowing next week.

  • Remember: We primarily care what the price of oil is when we are receiving the bulk of our deliveries: in the winter, when it is cold. We care about November, December, January, and February, when we're getting deliveries over and over. Take my advice and get a contract. Doesn't have to be the Nutmegger Group contract, but get a contract. It's the smart thing to do mathematically. 

Referral Credits

We get a lower price by contracting higher volume, so please do yourself and the rest of us a favor and give someone the gift of not overpaying on oil. Please. Do it for me. The oil company will pay you $50 per referral. You can actually get your oil bill down to $0 by telling folks about the group. They get a better price than they would otherwise, you get a lower bill, we get a better price year over year. It's a win-win-win. Please tell your referrals to mention your name so you get the credit. Once they receive a delivery, you get a credit. To facilitate this, we strongly encourage you to keep a list of people you've talked to. We want you to get credit for every last referral.