The site is designed to help homeowners determine if they are paying too much for home heat – propane and oil. We do this using an algorithm that takes into account Department of Energy data as well as per gallon costs of visitors who run the free test on our site. We combine this data to give our visitors an accurate assessment if they are paying more than they should for oil or propane. Soon we’ll add an alert service that will let users know when prices fluctuate and they should call their provider to renegotiate.

We just got coverage in Mass High Tech – http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/08/31/daily2-Home-heating-firms-gather-funding-fuel.html

Arik Keller

http://www.LowerMyHeat.com

LowerMyHeat.com helps people save money on home heating

Site offers quick and easy way to find out if you’re paying too much for oil or propane

Newburyport, MA – Sept 14 , 2009 – LowerMyHeat.com, a start-up based in Newburyport, MA, announced today the launch of their website that is designed to help people quickly determine if they are paying too much for home heat.

The idea came to Arik Keller, a local tech entrepreneur, back in the spring of this year. After researching average state home heating prices, and asking neighbors what they were paying per gallon, he discovered he was paying too much. “It turns out I was paying more than my neighbors and more than the state average. So it dawned on me that there has to be an easier way to empower people to gather the same information, quickly and easily online”, says Keller.

LowerMyHeat.com, now in beta, is designed to allow users to enter the price per gallon they are paying for oil or propane and determine two things – whether or not they paying more than their neighbors who run the test on LowerMyHeat and if they are paying more than their state average according to the Department of Energy. “These two pieces of information allow users to quickly determine if they should call their provider and negotiate a better rate”, added Keller.

LowerMyHeat.com offers a quick three step process to run the test on their homepage, all you need is a recent bill with your per gallon rate. The test is free at LowerMyHeat.com.

In the near future, LowerMyHeat.com will also offer an alert service. For a small annual subscription, LowerMyHeat.com will send users an alert when prices for oil and propane have dropped. “How many oil providers called their customers last year when the prices of oil dropped 50% – our service will do this for our customers”, added Keller.

There are approximately 8MM homes in the US who use oil and about 7MM using propane. And a majority of those are right here in New England, with a concentration in Massachusetts and Maine.

LowerMyHeat will also provide a rating system. “Price matters to everyone, but it’s also important to find good service. So in the near future, our users will be able to select a new heating provider based on price and user ratings.”

“We’re taking a ground up approach to helping people really save money, and we’re researching other ideas for electricity, cable and gasoline,” added Keller.