Why we built this
Our house on the North Shore runs on heating oil. So a couple of weeks ago our family woke up to the same sticker shock as everyone else who checked the price: $3.53 a gallon a year ago, over $6 now. A full 275-gallon tank is $1,500, the Governor has declared an energy emergency over it, and we wrote up what to do about it yesterday.
Everyone's advice is the same: shop around before every delivery. Great advice. We took it. Here's what shopping around for heating oil actually looks like. You open a dealer's website. You scroll past the truck photo and the "serving the community since 1952" paragraph. You find the price at the bottom in tiny font, if there is one. You figure out whether that's cash or credit, and whether it needs 150 gallons. Then you do it again for the next dealer. And the next. Most people quit after two and take the better of the two.
We built the thing we wanted: one page, every company in the commonwealth, prices updated daily, cheapest first.
How it works
For each oil delivery company, Tavlee:
- Shows today's price. Most dealers post a price based on how many gallons you buy. So we show their prices at the standard 100, 150, 200, and 275 gallons. Prices get refreshed daily.
- Says "not available" when we couldn't find a price. Some delivery companies only gives you a price if you call them or start an order. They sit at the bottom of the board with a phone number and a link if you're looking for more options.
- Shows you their profile. Every company on the board has a Tavlee profile: what customers have said about them, the highlights, and whether a neighbor vouched for them on Reddit, Nextdoor or somewhere else.
Where we are today
Today, we cover all of Massachusetts:
- Greater Boston, the North Shore, the South Shore, the Merrimack Valley, and MetroWest
- Central Massachusetts, North Central Massachusetts, the Pioneer Valley, and the Berkshires
- Southeastern Massachusetts, the South Coast, and Cape Cod & the Islands
The rest of New England is next, and shortly. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont as well.
Prices change every day. Check before every delivery. Open the receipts.
