Posted: June 8, 2026
Your energy choices matter. If you’re planning an equipment upgrade, or shopping for or building a new home, you are likely considering all your options. And you should! Depending on where you live, you could consider propane or natural gas, and you may be getting encouraged to go electric. But heating oil offers several advantages for home heating in terms of efficiency, ecological impact, and cost-effectiveness—particularly with the winter temperatures we see in our part of Vermont.
While there are three key benefits, the most surprising to most people is that oil heat has evolved to become as clean an option as most other choices. Here’s what you should know.
For a long time, the story was that any source of energy was better than heating oil—except maybe coal. But today’s heating oil is different. Most states in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, have committed to only using ultra-low sulfur heating oil, which reduces sulfur content in the fuel by 99 percent. That means it burns extremely cleanly, reducing emissions by more than 70% compared to the old type of heating oil.
On its own, ultra-low sulfur heating oil burns more cleanly than traditional heating oil. When it’s mixed with biofuels, like the Bioheat® fuel we deliver, the result is a cleaner-burning heating fuel that emits up to 80% less sulfur dioxide as well as 20% less carbon dioxide than traditional heating oils. Fewer greenhouse gases mean cleaner air and a more sustainable future for everyone!
Heating oil, including ultra-low sulfur heating oil, has a higher Btu output per gallon. In plain English, that means it will warm up your home faster than other types of fuels. What’s more, the newest oil-fired heating systems are highly efficient, often achieving efficiency ratings over 90%, which means they waste very little energy during the heating process. Used together with clean-burning, ultra-low sulfur Bioheat fuel improves your heating system’s efficiency even more—saving you money. It also helps your equipment last longer and reduces breakdowns.
The price of any fuel will fluctuate based on a range of factors, from geopolitics to the weather. Gallon for gallon, gas or propane may cost less than heating oil, but heating oil’s efficiency means you can use less fuel to warm up your home and keep it comfortable. The same is true for electric heat, which just doesn’t make sense in frigid conditions like we see here in New England. Even under extremely cold temperatures, when you’ll need to use more of any fuel to get more warmth, heating oil will get you warm faster and keep you warm more efficiently.
Heating oil also offers ways to save that you don’t get from a natural gas or electric utility. For example, filling up your tank in the “off” season lets you take advantage of lower per-gallon prices. You can’t do that with electricity or natural gas. We also offer a budget plan that lets you spread heating oil costs across 12 months.
Atlantic-Pratt has been helping South Shore families and businesses keep comfortable with reliable heating oil deliveries for over a century. We offer a wide range of services to help make winter easier, like automatic delivery service, transparent and competitive pricing, plus maintenance and repair service you can depend on.
Contact us today and let us know how we can help you!