As Vice President of the Skyview HOA in Pelham, NH, I presented our residents with the following information about our higher fuel prices:
You've probably noticed that in the last year or two, our propane charges have been rising.
I just had an enlightening conversation with Lou Berube, owner of L&G and a few other gas and oil companies. He has run the company along with his brother for 35 years. Their grandfather actually started the business in 1927. Lou and Garett are the third generation.
Skyview doesn't necessarily have a negotiated per gallon price arrangement with him, but we do get his best yearly locked-in rate. About 4 yrs ago, John (our developer) was able to find this local company that would install the tanks, and do the interior gas piping and just charge for the propane that's delivered, and at a surprising under market per gal. price compared to Energy North (our previous supplier), or most anyone else out there. Energy North's rates now approach $3 (after a year or so of introductory pricing), and along with others, tacks on bogus fees with each delivery, ranging from $12-$28 (such as hazmat compliance fees, which aren't). L&G has no delivery fees.
L&G fixes our price between Sept and May avoiding the price spikes that can happen during the cold weather months. You may see near the bottom of your invoice a quote for number of 'plan Gallons remaining.' L&G assigns each of us a particular amount of gallons during this time frame based on our historic usage that ideally is used up by May and a new price is set for the following heating season. We may see our price per gallon charges diminish this coming year if things go the way he thinks they will; it is still early.
Back in 2015, I had Energy North remove their 1971 vintage 500 gal tank, and L&G replaced it with a brand new 1000 gal tank, all at no charge. Similar scenarios occurred with other long time residents.
On Christmas Eve, 2017 (temps below zero), all of our family was here, planning on spending the night, when the heat went out. L&G's on-call serviceman who explained how to unfreeze both gas regulators (one red above the tank and one green on the house) by pouring hot water on both, until he could make it here from his home. After recycling the furnace switch and verifying that the heat was now working, I agreed that he hold off his repair so that he could also enjoy the holiday. He then replaced both regulators and put more methanol in the tank, the next morning. I mentioned this story to Lou yesterday, and he remembers the occurrence (and that Matt was the technician), since it's so rare. Many suppliers are not as diligent about their methanol maintenance, and see frozen regulators as a routine service call.
I'm sharing this information and these anecdotes with you so we can all appreciate how fortunate we are to have L&G as our local, small-business supplier, providing excellent service with low-cost fuel, delivered by new trucks into our new tanks. I do.
Rick G. read more