PORTSMOUTH — State Rep. Pamela Gordon, D-Portsmouth, has a relative who lives in Hudson who was told she had to wait 18 days to get home heating oil.
Because her relative wasn’t on automatic refill with her oil company, the family has spent the past seven days running out each day to buy diesel gasoline to put in their tank so they can stay warm and the tank doesn’t run dry, Gordon said Monday.
“They had to buy a special container, which takes five gallons, so it’s only lasting a day or two,” Gordon said.
“My concern is if this happens again, what can we do to deal with it better? What if you’re elderly and can’t get out every day to buy diesel fuel or you’re not capable of loading your own tank?” Gordon asked. “This is ridiculous that people have to do this."
She’s been told the home heating companies have enough supply, they just can’t get it out to customers quick enough.
Bill Sherry, the chief operating officer at Granite United Way, said 2-1-1 NH has received “hundreds of calls” from people seeking heating oil since a cold snap began between Christmas and New Year's Day, carrying through until this week, when the weather is becoming warmer.
“We’ve been working in coordination with the state emergency operations center,” Sherry said. “All 2-1-1 is doing is collecting the information and handing any emergency calls over to the state so they can connect the consumer with the oil dealer.”
Donna Buxton, the owner of Buxton Oil, described the exploding demand for home heating oil in the state as “the perfect storm.”
“Everybody ordered heating oil the same three weeks,” Buxton said.
Her company’s been in business for 50 years, but Buxton said this winter has been the first one “we’ve struggled like this to keep up.”
“We come in to 350 voice messages daily. We’ve never seen it like this,” Buxton said. “Sometimes people (who want the heating oil) haven’t ordered since May or March. We have to put them in and then prioritize the orders."
The company takes care of its automatic refill customers first because they have contracts with them, then will call customers have to “get in line” to have their orders filled, she said.
“Typically we can get customers within the same week, even in extreme conditions,” Buxton said. “This year it’s been unprecedented. This cold snap has been longer than the others.”
Will-call customers have waited a week or even two to get heating oil, Buxton said, despite the fact “we are delivering seven days a week all through Christmas and all through New Year’s.”
“I was here Sunday answering phones all day,” she added.
Gov. Chris Sununu lifted the cap on how many days delivery truck drivers are allowed to work, she said.
The waiting times are due to both the unprecedented demand for the heating oil, but also a declining amount of drivers, Buxton said.
Her company has not had any issues with supply, she said.
To deliver home heating oil, drivers must have their commercial driver’s license and their hazardous materials license, she said.
“All companies in the trucking industry are struggling getting drivers, whether it’s oil, trash trucks or delivery trucks,” Buxton said. “Older drivers are starting to age out and younger men and women aren’t getting into it as much.”
Her company is fortunate that they have a veteran group of drivers – many with more than 30 years experience – and an on-site mechanic, she said.
“We’re out there every day but with this cold snap people are waiting a little bit longer than what they’re used to,” Buxton said.
She agreed that a short-term solution for people who are running low and have to wait for a delivery is to use diesel fuel.
“No one wants their pipes to freeze,” she said.
Buxton stressed that her workers are doing everything they can to get heating oil to their customers as quickly as possible.
“I’ve never seen it last this long where people are getting this desperate,” Buxton said about the cold snap.
She hopes that as the temperatures finally start to warm up that hers and other companies can catch up.
“We’re using those days to get caught up on the calls we already have on the docket,” she said.
Sununu, in a statement released Monday, said his administration has been “working directly with home heating oil providers to appropriately prioritize the need, making sure that resources are available to those who have exhausted all options and are without heat.”
“In many cases, providers have been working around the clock to accommodate the increased demand,” Sununu said. “We will continue our efforts and encourage those in need of assistance to call 211.”
Michael Todd, the public information officer for the N.H. Department of Safety, confirmed that “fuel delivery restrictions have been eased across the region so that drivers can deliver for longer shifts.”
Todd also added that “heating companies are making deliveries as quickly as possible.”
“New Hampshire has experienced an extended period of unusually cold weather. As the weather falls into its normal range, requests should fall back to normal levels,” he said.
Gordon acknowledged that the state has been dealing with “extraordinary circumstances” during the cold snap.
But she believes it can do better so people don’t have to wait weeks for fuel or load their own.
“There’s got to be a plan B when this happens,” she said.