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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P R OP A NE company purchased two propane delivery trucks and one crane truck. To begin wi th, Simple Energy approached its fuel oil customers who had ancillary uses for propane. "For the first six months we didn't advertise it to the public at large," Stenger said. But they did build a list of prospects during that time, and have been building the business since. Fuel oil dealers can familiarize them- selves with the propane market they are contemplating entering, and evaluate its competitiveness, sometimes, with infor- mation available from trade associations. The Vermont Fuel Dealers Association (VFDA), for instance, reports that 70 of 120 fuel oil dealers in the state are in the propane business. The trend of fuel oil dealers venturing into the propane busi- ness started about 10 years ago, and "really accelerated in the last five years," said Matt Cota, executive director of the VFDA. The majority of households in Vermont today—some 54 percent—still heat with fuel oil; propane accounts for 15 percent; and natural gas for 14 percent, according to the association, based on its research of U.S. Census data. The remainder—17 percent of households—heats with wood and electricity, according to the data (see pie chart on page 20). Developers of ski resorts in Vermont tend to choose pro- pane for heat, Cota added. Fuel oil dealers in Vermont and other states who haven't ventured into the propane business might be daunted by the investment it requires to get started. "The propane business has much more overhead," Cota said, than the fuel oil business where, with "one truck, one cell phone, and an ad in the Pennysaver, you're in business." Chris Ouellette, a partner in Liberty Oil Equipment Co., East Hartford, Conn., said, "I believe it's a five-year process to get established in the propane business." A longtime builder of fuel oil trucks, Liberty began building propane delivery trucks about four years ago. The company often builds propane delivery trucks on spec, Ouellette said, and recently sold a truck to a fuel oil dealer in Utica, N.Y. A "3499" is the typical tank size for a propane delivery truck, the number refer- ring to the number of gallons of propane the tank ostensibly can hold, but Ouellette said that such tanks are filled only to 85 percent capacity to allow for expansion of the propane gas. Based on what a number of industry veterans said, here is a breakdown of some major costs: a delivery truck, approxi- mately $125,000 to $150,000; a crane truck, with a price tag of about $100,000, to set tanks on customers' property; and a service truck, such as a Ford F-450 or Our new version has been released, contain- ing many new features which have been added without changing the Easy-To-Use format. Complete Degree Day Forecasting System | Accounts Receivable with Daily Aging | Burner Service Billing, History, Inventory | Customer Control & Credit Analysis | Budgets, Collection Letters | Extensive Sales Tax Reporting | Vehicle Maintenance | Tank & Truck Liquid Inventory Control | Lowest Credit Card Selection Module | Increase Gallons/Stop, Minimize Runouts | And Many More Features.... Market Line Computers | 317 Harrington Ave. | Closter, NJ 07624 •Call Today For Complete Product Literature! 800-210-1498 Come see us at AREE booth #617 www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | FEBRUARY 2012 19