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
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/739848
www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | NOVEMBER 2016 23 growing dramatically," Goldberg said. "The number of propane customers much less so." Most oil dealers initially focus on signing up their existing customers who use propane for ancillary purposes, such as cooking. In investment terms, "that's a lot of steel and not a lot of gallons," Goldberg noted. Some oil companies' propane ventures are undercapitalized, so they sell the propane tanks to their customers, Goldberg said. But if a dealer's goal is to build up the business for eventual sale—"one of the principal reasons fuel oil dealers get into propane"—selling tanks undermines that long-term plan, Goldberg said. Owning and having control of customers' propane tanks is considered critical in the propane business. Besides helping dealers retain customers, it sets the stage for dealers to offer additional services, such as appliance installation, maintenance and repair. A name change is often part and parcel of diversifying. "What you're really trying to do is make sure the public knows you're as much a propane company as you are an oil company," Goldberg said. But is it a simple matter of adding "& Propane" to the company name? "Sticking it in your name, while somewhat awkward, is smart and also helps with search," Goldberg said, meaning online search results. "When you change your company name and you change your URL, if you're not careful, Google starts thinking you're a brand new company and you drop out or you don't get ranked very high in search results," Goldberg pointed out. Some companies choose to add the word "Energy" because, looking to the future, they may expand into pellet stoves, heat pumps, natural gas service, or resell- ing electricity—and they don't want to have to deal with yet another change to the company name later on, Goldberg said. Among decisions to do with sales, Goldberg singled out this key one: "Are there going to be dedicated propane sales people? Or do you expect your customer service people who handle your oil sales to also learn propane?" Inadequate planning about supply can be another common pitfall. Often a new player will rely initially on throughput at a facility of another company nearby, but if the newcomer starts to make a dent in the market, "their friendly supplier is suddenly not so friendly anymore," Goldberg said. A company starting in propane needs to have arrangements in place for diversified supply, Goldberg said. BUILDING BIOFUELS BUSINESS In a session on building biofuels business and profits, Michael Ferrante, president of the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, and others on a panel discussed the potential to do business in renewable energy credits, or RECs, related to the generation of electricity from biodiesel. Some states have, or are developing, programs that require power plants to use some renewable energy sources, like biodiesel, in the generation of electricity, the goal being to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, panelists said. New Hampshire has a program, and Massachusetts and Vermont are among states working to establish such programs, the panelists said. Trading in RECs from state-to-state is envisioned as part of an overall plan to develop a market in RECs, the panelists said. More information is available at the website of the Clean Energy States Alliance, www.cesa.org, and at the website of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, http://www.mass.gov/eea/. l F O N BUT IS IT A SIMPLE MATTER OF ADDING '& PROPANE' TO THE COMPANY NAME?