Worcester News

Local Oil Dealer To Appeal To Congress

WORCESTER (WBZ) ― New England heating oil dealers say high prices are putting them in the same boat as their customers. Trying to keep them afloat, a central Massachusetts dealer is appealing to Congress.

Sandra Farrell, co-owner of Northboro Oil, will tell the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business Wednesday that money owed to her business by customers this year topped $900,000, headed toward $1 million -- up 30 percent in two years.

"A lot of dealers are really struggling right now," Farrell told WBZ's Ron Sanders as she strolled around her company's bulk storage facility.

Sandra Farrell chairs the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council, which represents about 350 dealers. She says, while heating oil prices have risen well more than 100 percent in the past three years, some customers who used to pay in 10 days now take 30.

But Farrell's supplier wants its money in 10 and, to add irony to injury, her Boston supplier upped the "fuel surcharge" for bulk deliveries of the product she sells. She thinks Congress could help dealers by helping customers. "I would like to see them provide a tax credit or rebate for customers who want to upgrade their oil heating equipment."

James Millar of Northboro upgraded his furnace and thermostat two years ago. But, what the Millar household gained in efficiency, it lost in steep price increases. Millar's wife Lois says, "I feel bad for everyone really; but the older people like us, being on a fixed income, it has to really hurt. And what do you do? Where do you go?"

As she prepares to go to Congress, Farrell says one of her serious concerns is that if food prices continue their rise, along with fuel prices, some of her customers may find themselves making choices between essentials.

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