LYCOMING COUNTY, Pa. — As temperatures continue to drop, more and more people will look to crank up the heat. This time of the year is usually when people fill up their oil tanks for the winter. However, due to current oil prices, that trend has cooled down.
"I am actually in a lot of people's basements working on their furnaces and stuff. When I look at their gauges, normally, they are full this time of the year because you would fill them. But I am seeing quarter of tanks and half tanks," said Vince Reeder of Reeder Bros. Fuel Services in Lycoming County.
Reeder says heating oil prices per gallon have been all over the place due to global events.
"We were $2.79 in September, and then something happened 1,000 miles away, and we went up to $3.99."
That price was set to dip, but the recent conflict in the Middle East hasn't helped.
"We were trending backwards, but now, with what is going on in Israel currently, we went up 20 cents in one day."
Reeder says that over the past few years, he has seen more people try to reduce their oil use.
"People are putting on sweatshirts and turning thermostats down lower."
Due to people struggling to afford heating oil, Reeder has been fundraising for the past two years to help folks in Lycoming, Clinton, and Montour Counties. He started a campaign called Hats for Heat that has helped hundreds of people.
"We just sell apparel and take donations, and it helps people, those in need, with heating oil issues. We have roughly raised $100,000," Reeder said.
Find out more about Hats for Heat on their Facebook page.