Summer officially started two weeks ago, and already consumers, oil companies and state officials are bracing for the heating season.

The state's fuel assistance program is coming off its busiest season ever, and community agencies have been inundated with calls since Tuesday, when they started taking some applications for next winter. Oil dealers say consumers are shying away from pre-buy contracts, once considered a smart bet to lock into a low price, because they can't afford them. And state officials are trying to raise awareness about efficiency programs that could help consumers pay for energy-saving improvements in their homes.

Bob Garside, president of the Oil Heat Council of New Hampshire, said he knows of only a handful of oil dealers still offering pre-buy contracts, which let customers lock into a price for a set amount of oil before the winter, when prices are much lower. But the costs have become too prohibitive for consumers, he said.

With the average price of heating oil at $4.53 a gallon, and the average use in New Hampshire about 800 gallons of oil each winter, a pre-buy contract can cost as much as $4,000.

"Most consumers are not going to come up with that kind of money to pre-buy contracts; that's why they're not selling those contracts, because the price is too high," he said.

The council and most of the state's dealers recommend budget plans, in which customers can stretch out the cost of oil over 11 or 12 months, based on how much oil they used last year and the current market price. It helps consumers avoid "sticker shock" - an average 200-gallon delivery is almost $1,000 - and build up credit before the winter begins, Garside said.

At a time when consumers are trying to balance other rising costs, such as electricity, food and gasoline, the predictability of a budget oil plan is a significant value, he said.

"The consumer's really caught in the squeeze play here of trying to balance all the budget wherewithal that he has and trying to stretch it out and make changes," Garside said.

Rymes Propane & Oil is still offering pre-buy contracts. When the company sent out offers to customers about a month ago, the price to lock into a deal for the winter was $4.50 a gallon. That's already gone up dramatically, co-owner John Rymes said, to $4.65.

"It's a struggle to try to convince people to pre-buy when the prices are record high," he said.

Customers of Fred Fuller Oil in Concord can also still lock into a pre-buy contract for the heating season at $4.65 a gallon, or sign on to an 11-month budget plan for $5 a gallon. But with the uncertainty in the market, deciding between the two plans has become a much more difficult decision for customers and the dealers recommending them, said Bill Fuller, the company's general manager.

"If they can afford to (pre-buy), that is obviously the cheaper - well, it depends on which way you look at it," Fuller said. "If you look at it going up, it's a better plan."

"The safer bet is probably the budget plan," he added. "And it's more cost-effective for them if they know what they're paying each month, as opposed to having to give us all this money at once."

Fuel assistance woes

If typical customers are concerned about paying for heat this year, the fears are heightened for low-income families that have trouble affording oil every year.

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