Having been a software developer since the 60s when Rock n Roll had lyrics and a Budget was a simple calculation of one year’s gallons X the estimated price and maybe a tweak for consideration of the farmer’s almanac; what happened?    Example:  1500 gallons (no insulation, single pane glass) X .29 = $435 divided by 10 rounded up to $50 month for Heating Oil, no problem, close enough, don’t even need a computer.  Let’s move forward to 2008 and use the same example:  1000 gallons (insulated, conservation, thermo pane glass, solar, etc) X $5.00 = $5000 divide by 10 to $500 month for Heating Oil, big problem and you need a computer with powerful software.  Yes, $500 a month is not practical for this little house, so why not have the customer buy his heating oil at the beginning of the season based on future prices?  No problem, if the price goes up and by the way, make sure you buy the oil contracts to back this up and then, and then, and then divide it by 10 and make payments.  If the price goes down, your customer thinks you conned him and buys COD and you have a contract with $5.00 Heating Oil.  Maybe a Price Cap will work, maybe charge a fee, but what if the price goes up.  Maybe 11 months or 12 months is better  so the customer has a permanent payment and thinks he has another mortgage and don’t forget the old Farmer’s Almanac, a winter that is 10% colder than anticipated is now a lot of money.  What about the economy?    Does any of this sound familiar, it sure does to us at AWE as we assisted our customers by providing several scenarios to re-evaluate budget payments.   Are you ready for the good news?  Watch for the new E-System 2009 Advance Budgets.   We work, we study, we learn, we innovate, and provide the benefits to our customers.  We are not saying there is an easy answer, but we are saying that we have the tools for you.

A very astute businessman and owner of a very successful Petroleum Distribution Company (also an AWE customer, of course) recounted a recent event when purchasing oil.   He said I was just notified by Exxon that I could no longer purchase any product for the rest of the month.  Curious, I said “What?” and he finished the story.  Apparently with Exxon, the large quarterly profits were a problem and the new President and Congress made it even worse.  The only way to stop making profit is to stop selling oil but doesn’t  that sound a bit extreme.  Then, there is the economy and the automobile industry failing miserably and how about this for a rescue plan.  Exxon could buy a GM, Ford, and Chrysler with just one quarters profit.  What a deal, save the automobile industry, and be able to buy a Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler at your local Exxon gas station.  Of course, this is not going to happen but it is amazing how we threaten a profitable company like Exxon with a windfall profits tax and at the same time provide billions of dollars to companies that fail.   I think Exxon is on a better path than GM and can you imagine if the restrictions on drilling and shale oil research were removed?  Just my opinion, Gary Sullivan.