The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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T hriving in the heating oil business is a tough job these days, but when you're selling to a market that is incredibly envi- ronmentally focused, it can be even tougher. Yet Steven T. Clark at Genesee Fuel & Heating Company in Seattle is thriving through smart marketing, innovation and growing through close industry involvement. The company has a storied 86-year history, dating back to a bygone era of home heating. "The company was started by my grandfather Gordon Clark and his brother Russell Clark in 1929," said Clark. " And they fist delivered wood and coal." He said diversification started early in the company history. "In World War II, heating oil furnaces were marketed and popu- lar so they started selling oil," said Clark, who continued to diversify into new market segments. "About three years ago, we started selling propane as well. And we also have a HVAC division." He said working in the Seattle area has its unique prospects and pitfalls. "In the Seattle city limits and the vicinity just outside of Seattle, heating oil is maybe 8% of the market. It's being taken over by natural gas for the most part," said Clark. "In the rural areas, where there is no natural gas, it's a decision between heating oil, propane, electricity and wood. There are pockets that are really good for propane." As the oil business fluctuates with new competing technologies, Clark said that propane delivery has become quite a successful part of the business. "Propane has been the one that's growing and creating a lot of excitement here. The large national propane companies have a diffi- cult time with customer service, so there's a lot of frustrated propane users out there that seem to like our homegrown, right next door, be-right-over approach," said Clark, who is using the lessons learned as a regional delivery company to give customers a friendlier choice. "We're also priced better than a lot of those companies." But that's not to say the team at Genesee has written off heating oil. Clark thinks it could even bounce back in his region with new cleaner fuels that turn old ideas of heating oil on their head. "When I first took over in 1993, cleanliness was the big issue. That's why people wanted to switch. Price partly, but people had this perception of heating oil being just dirty, nasty stuff," said Clark. "But now with Bioheat, that's just not the case anymore along with the efficiency and cleanliness of newer oil burners." He said the new perceptions of biodiesel and Bioheat are attrac- tive to his "very green-minded" Northwest demographic. "I'm on the NORA board – and I know NORA is really going down the path of Bioheat," said Clark. "So I'm still optimistic that heating oil can make a comeback here in Seattle." Clark said he is considering going to B5 as a standard fuel, but currently offers standard heating oil and several blend. "We offer 25%, 50% and 99% biodiesel," said Clark. Out East, people will offer B5 to everybody. The route we chose was instead of offer b5 to everybody was to offer regular heating oil and different blends of Bioheat if they request that. We did quite a lot of market- ing early on." Smart Marketing Speaking of marketing, keen tactics have kept Genesee relevant to there prospective customers. He said a couple of local companies made his green marketing especially easy. To grow their propane coverage, Genesee is using a few different marketing tactics. "There are two companies over here in the Seattle area that make biodiesel from recycled cooking grease," said Clark. "That has a lot of marketing sizzle in this area because you can literally talk about how the grease from your burger two months ago is now heating your home. So it's a good story." He said getting that great story out is more difficult than it seems 24 MAY 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com BUSINESS OPERATIONS Selling Oil in Seattle Smart marketing, thoughtful consolidation drives Genesee Fuel & Heating Company BY NICHOLAS UPTON