I read the news today, gasoline prices continue to fall. You may have noticed that gasoline prices have stabilized or gone down all summer. That’s unusual. Following the business cycle of supply and demand, when summer driving season begins, historically, gasoline prices go up. This summer they did not. That’s because demand for gasoline has not gone up. And that’s partly because of the many electric vehicles that are on the road this summer.

As the state strives to reduce the use of fossil fuels, including heating oil and propane, the demand for those fuels will go down and consequently the price will go down or will not rise as fast. Like the people who continue to drive gasoline fuel vehicles did not see the typical increase in gasoline prices, Vermonters who continue to depend on heating oil will see downward pressure on fuel oil prices as more and more homes use electricity to run heat pumps to heat their water and their homes. It’s no wonder that the oil companies are publishing fearful stories about their customers being forced to buy fuel oil at inflated prices.

If we succeed in reducing our use of fossil fuel, not only will the air be cleaner, the climate will be less impacted and it will be cheaper for Vermonters to heat their homes whether it’s with electric heat pumps or fuel oil powered boilers.

Don’t fall for fearmongering stories from Big Oil and join me in voting for Democrats to continue to fight climate change and reduce our use of fossil fuel!

Dave Sharpe

Bristol