Metrowest Oil Service
Framingham, MA
(508) 875-2770
Heating Oil & Heating Service
www.metrowestoil.com

Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

Q: What are your delivery hours?
A: Our fleet of radio-dispatched tanker trucks operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Normal deliveries are made from 7:00am until 5:00pm.


Q: Can I pay for oil using a debit card?
A: Yes! As long as the debit card has a Visa or Mastercard logo on it, we can process it. Payments by debit card are considered "cash" and you will be entitled to any discount we offer cash customers.


Q: What is Locked Pricing? (also called "Capped Pricing")
A: Locked pricing is way for customers lock into a set price for the entire heating season. To read more about MetroWest Energy's locked / capped pricing CLICK HERE.


Q: What is Downside Protection?
A: Downside Protection is a form of insurance to protect customers who have "locked in" and the price of oil drops lower than the lock price. For more info about Downside Protection CLICK HERE.


Q: How can I estimate how many gallons of heating oil my home will use this year?
A: If you are a new MetroWest Oil customer, but have lived in your home for several years you can check the statements from your previous oil company and add up the total number of gallons delivered, then divide by the total gallons by the number of years.

Unlike electricity, where services are metered and billed each month, it's possible that you may have had your tank filled late in the heating season one year and not used much of that oil until the next year. By averaging the total number of gallons delivered over 2-3 years or more, you can get a fairly reliable estimate for number of gallons per year.

Since weather plays a big part in the amount of heating oil your home will use, that needs to be take into consideration too. In a year with a mild winter, you may use considerably less heating oil than a year with months of extremely cold winter days. Heating oil companies use a system known as "degree days" to help estimate when a customer needs oil, and how much oil they need.


Q: What are Degree Days?
A: Degree days are a calculation used to help estimate when an automatic delivery heating oil customer will need oil.

Degree days are based on the difference between average normal temperature for a particular day of the year, and the actual temperature for that date in the current year. The temperature is monitored throughout the year and takes into account if the day is during the heating season, the cooling season or on days when you won't need to run your heater or air-conditioner.

For example, if January 1st is normally 38 degrees, but for the current year the temperature is only 16 degrees, the program would calculate that more fuel oil was needed to heat a home on that day, (or if the actual outdoor temperate was 42 degrees, that it would take less oil to heat the home).

These calculations are done on an ongoing basis throughout the year, and then calculated according to your home's average heating oil usage.

Based on degree days and customer usage, our oil delivery schedule is adjusted every day to be sure that you never run out of oil, regardless of the weather -- and that we don't schedule deliveries when your tank is nearly full.

The degree day program helps us keep delivery costs down and insures that you never run out of oil.