Page 42 - Oil and Energy January 2013

42 • OIL&ENERGY
Connecticut
CEMA MEMBERS SPEAK OUT
AT HEARINGS ON ENERGY PLAN
During five recent public hearings on the
state’s draft comprehensive energy strategy
(CES), members of the Connecticut Energy
Marketers Association (CEMA) comprised
about half of the total audience and at least
half of the speakers addressing concerns
with the plan. Of the 80 individual speakers
who spoke during the hearings, fewer than
five supported the plan, according to CEMA.
“We have found allies in some expected
as well as unexpected places through this
process and will make good use of those
alliances in our next steps,” CEMA wrote in
a recent member newsletter.
Issued by Gov. Dannel Malloy, the CES
calls for increasing residential use of natural
gas from the 31 percent of Connecticut
homes that use it today to 50 percent in seven
years. It also proposes increasing natural gas
usage from 35 percent to 75 percent in the
commercial sector and from 50 percent to 75
percent in the industrial sector.
CEMA speakers at the final hearing in
Torrington, Conn. “were nothing short of
magnificent,” CEMA wrote. “You were all
focused, delivered key and critical messages
about the flaws with the plan, and contrib-
uted greatly to why the [the Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection
(DEEP)] has work to do to revise much in
the strategy they have put before the state.”
In addition to the five public hearings
you are familiar with, CEMA had John
Batey, its technical expert, attend and make
presentations to DEEP technical hearings on
the natural gas as well as energy efficiency
sessions.
CEMA CONTEMPLATES
STATE OILHEAT ALLIANCE
CEMA is making plans to launch its own
state-based Oilheat Alliance to fill the void
left when the National Oilheat Research
Alliance (NORA) lapsed in February 2010
due to inaction in Congress.
“From 2001 until February 6, 2010,
heating oil retailers paid twenty points per
gallon (.0020) on all gallons they purchased
at wholesale for [NORA],” CEMA wrote in a
recent announcement to members. “Eighty-
five percent of that fee you paid came back
rom NORA to Connecticut and CEMA was f
ble to use that roughly $1million to promote a
Oilheat, promote high-efficiency Oilheat
heating, promote energy conservation with
Oilheat, and generally promote our industry
nd subsidize education at our school. a
“Unfortunately, Congress failed to
eauthorize NORA before it expired … and r
hasn’t gotten it back into the law books
ince, despite all 23 states working very s
hard to do so. That means that for the past
wo and a half years, CEMA has not had any t
evenue with which to protect the Oilheat r
market and your business.
“We cannot wait any longer for a
Congress that is frittering away its time
and your future and the future of our
industry – so we decided we would try to
recreate NORA and run it ourselves here in
Connecticut. We need to get back into the
business of promoting what is best about
Oilheat and the Oilheat industry and the
tremendous value you and every Oilheat
marketer brings to Connecticut.”
CEMA has petitioned the Connecticut
Attorney General and the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission for permission to re-create
NORA by contracts between retailers and
wholesalers. “If every retailer signs a contract
with all of their wholesalers agreeing to allow
each wholesaler to charge twenty points per
gallon of all heating oil purchased – then
we can raise $650,000 to $700,000 and use
those funds to engage in public, consumer
education and get back into the business of
promoting what is best about Oilheat and
the Oilheat industry,” CEMA wrote.
CEMA has succeeded in gaining the
approval of the Connecticut Attorney General
and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to
recreate NORA in Connecticut through a
contract between every retailer and all of
their wholesalers. “This is a strictly volun-
tary program,” CEMA wrote. “Having now
achieved the necessary legal clearances, we
are now presenting this contract to retailers
and asking that they consider agreeing to
allow their wholesalers to assess them twenty
points per gallon on all gallons of heating oils
they buy at wholesale. Wholesalers would
then send all of the funds to CEMA, instead
of to NORA and then back to CEMA.”
CEMA reports that Oilheat market
share losses have been staggering. The U.S.
Census shows that Connecticut lost 31,565
Oilheat accounts between 2000 and 2010,
which equates to $600 million in revenue.
“Our role is to stop the erosion of our
market share and work hard to rebuild
confidence and consumer awareness of
what is best about Oilheat and the Oilheat
industry,” CEMA wrote. “If we don’t take
the need to defend and promote ourselves
seriously, then Oilheat in Connecticut
will end up just like Oilheat in the West,
Midwest and Mid-Atlantic – gone.”
New Hampshire
LEGISLATORS PLAN TO REINTRODUCE
BILL ON PREPAID CONTRACTS
State Reps. Tim Copeland, R-Stratham,
and Donna Schlachman, D-Exeter, plan to
reintroduce a bill this month to regulate
prepaid oil contracts, according to a report
in the Union Leader. The measure was first
introduced in 2011 but did not emerge
from committee in the state House of
Representatives. It would require heating
oil companies to keep money from prepaid
contracts in escrow.
Jim Boffetti, senior assistant attorney
general in the state’s consumer protection
and antitrust bureau, said his office has
fielded more than 1,500 complaints on
prepaid heating oil contracts in the past
five years. “These (contracts) have been
problematic in New Hampshire; there’s no
question,” Boffetti told the Union Leader.
New Jersey
FMA APPROVES PARTNERSHIP
WITH ENERGY PLUS
The Board of Trustees of the Fuel
Merchants Association of New Jersey
(FMA) recently approved a partnership
with Energy Plus, a third-party provider
of natural gas and electricity in the state.
According to FMA President Charlie Brand,
“FMA researched the market to determine
what company could best provide electric
and natural gas in a manner that was benefi-
cial to FMA members and their residential
and small business customers.”
“While selling electricity and natural
gas might not be a huge profit driver for
FMA members, this program more impor-
tantly affords members the opportunity
to leverage existing relationships and sell
additional products and services, including
HVAC, to strengthen the bond with their
customer base,” Brand stated.
State News