The gas company utilities are spending money to market and advertise gas heat to heating oil customers and usually take the facts and make them something else. But to clear the record, please understand these facts about heating oil:

• gas customers pay extra fees that include basic monthly delivery and
• supply charges;
• heating oil is just safer than its counterpart gas;
• heating oil is not explosive;
• Converting from heating oil to gas heat is much more expensive than the other way around;
• Gas heating is an expensive gamble with no guaranteed payoff;
• Natural gas has very limited competition.

In most communities, those who use heating oil companies can get competitive prices. However, with gas pipeline networks, they are usually owned and controlled by a utility company and there is little to no competitive pricing. Why? Because there is no one to really compete with these utility companies to drive the prices down.

Moreover, the natural gas industry is riddled with leaks that put gas out into our breathing air. Being 95 percent methane, natural gas has the potential of encouraging global warming with carbon dioxide. Many times these utility companies tolerate these leaks that they deem do not pose a threat of fire or explosions.

Claiming that the utility gas company has plentiful supplies of deposits of gas in the United States, the real truth is that only up to 80% of new drilling wells use a controversial technique of extraction called “fracking.” Also termed hydraulic fracturing, this form of fracking uses gallons of water in the millions, while injecting chemicals into the ground. This can be a continuous problem for residents living near gas wells who get their water tainted or rusted in color. This is not a good thing, and yet another drawback for those using gas heat.