Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
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It's Hot Outside, But Inside They're Talking About Cold Winter Nights with No Heat
June 25, 2008 8:07 AM
The forecast calls for 88 degrees and plenty of sun here in Washington today. But inside Senator Kerry's Small Business Committee hearing room the focus will be on sub-zero temperatures, small companies struggling to supply heating oil, and their customers who are having trouble paying for it.
Sandra Farrell is one of those small suppliers. She owns Northboro Oil in Northborough, Massachusetts. It has been in her family for 55 years and most of her customers have known her since she was a baby. She has 12 employees, 9 full-time, 3 part-time. She delivers two million gallons of fuel oil and diesel every year to 2400 customers. It now cost her much more to get the oil, deliver it, and pay those credit card fees that keep on rising. She says a typical delivery that cost $500 LAST YEAR will cost at least $850 THIS YEAR. Some of her customers have stopped paying her.
In her prepared testimony, Farrell will tell Kerry she has three types of customers; those who are resigned to paying the higher prices but don't like it, those who are angry and call to rant and rave and then end up apologizing and those who are TRULY FRIGHTENED. She says the truly frightened are "JUST DOWNRIGHT SCARED." She says they include the elderly on a fixed income and those who have a young family and are already working as hard as they can to pay their bills. "IT IS VERY TOUGH LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF THESE CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY ASK ME WHAT I THINK THEY SHOULD DO. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL THEM...SOMETIMES THE LINES START TO BLUR BETWEEN BEING A BUSINESS AND A SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY."
Kerry says by the end of the summer customers will have to start filling up their oil tanks for the winter. He will once again introduce a bill to give small businesses emergency disaster loans to help them get through tough times like those Sandra Farrell is now experiencing. The legislation has passed the senate THREE TIMES BUT NEVER BECOME LAW.
It's hot now. Gas prices are the talk of the town. But before long it will turn cold, very cold.
June 25, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1)
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As a homeowner in New England (NH) who has oil heat as well, I am just as nervous as anyone else. My average cost to heat my home this upcoming winter is going to run close to $5 THOUSAND DOLLARS.
How is the average homeowner supposed to come up with this kind of money?
Bio Fuels, although they burn 17% more efficient than oil, is still at the same price as oil. If I switch to propane, I have to pay a conversion fee (new furnace) of almost $7k, then for every gallon of oil you WERE burning, you burn a gallon and a half of propane, so no savings there.
What do I switch to that a consumer can afford? Electricity? NO! Solar, NOT in New England, not enough sun. Geo thermal? It cost on average 25k to install. Natural Gas? We don't have gas lines where I live.
People will go into debt and lose their homes because of the extremely high cost. $5k is a lot of money to come up with over a 5 month period!
Posted by: Scottie | Jun 25, 2008 10:06:25 AM
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