DOE's Response to the Rising Price of Home Heating Oil

Testimony was given on the findings in a recent GAO report on home heating oil supplies and prices in the Washington, D.C., area. The testimony focused on the national implications of rising home heating oil prices and the response of the Department of Energy (DOE). Nationally, the average residential selling price for heating oil increased 111 percent between July 1976, when heating oil prices were decontrolled, and August 1979. Between January 1979 and November 1979, prices increased 55 percent. GAO expressed concern that DOE has done little to determine the reasons for, and the equitableness of, the price increases, particularly with regard to the controversial increases in refiners' prices. There appeared to be little agreement within DOE as to what division, if any, had responsibility for the issue of rising heating oil prices. Accordingly, GAO recommended in its report that the Secretary of Energy determine whether current heating oil prices are equitable and justified by increased costs and, if not, whether Federal action is needed. It was also recommended that DOE prepare a study assessing the competitiveness of the refinery sector of the heating oil industry.