Many people think lobbying in Washington D.C. is unamerican and only protects special interests of big corporations. My experiences tell me just the opposite. Sure, big business wants to protect their interests, but many smaller family owned businesses need to protect their families, their employees and their industry.

This point was driven home for me at my second visit with lawmakers in what Charles Dickens called the City of Magnificent Intentions. My recent visit was organized by the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) in what they termed “Propane Days”. It was a great event with over 400 participants from almost every state. I visited lawmakers with five other Connecticut residents to meet with our congress people (mostly their senior staff). We were well prepared to talk about our issues although I think we were all a little nervous if we were knowledgeable enough. As it turned out, between all of us we covered the issues very well.

Our four issues had official names but in my words they were:
1. Stupid Act
2. Another Stupid Act
3. Common Sense Act
4. Do Over Act

1. The first stupid act has to do with the OSHA Crane Rule. Basically, OSHA wants to group 700-foot cranes building sky scrapers with a crane on the back of a Ford F-450. New training and certification requirements would cost marketers $151 Million over the next five years. We asked for an exemption and everyone we spoke with thought the exemption was warranted.
2. The other stupid act is officially called The Jones Act. It had good intentions to protect our merchant ships a hundred years ago. It basically says that when you ship from one U.S. port to another, it has to be on a U.S. flagged ship. Now that we are a net exporter of propane we can move propane up the coast from one port to another on U.S. flagged propane tankers. Unfortunately, there are none and there are no plans to build any. We have to import propane because we can’t ship to ourselves. This past winter there was a foreign flagged tanker in Puerto Rico looking for a home. New England needed the fuel but they were not allowed to take the shipment. As a result, companies traveled to other Northeast states to get fuel, causing increases in the spot market for many homeowners. We asked to get an exemption for propane, but we were told it would be a tough fight as others wanted to keep the act in place for every industry. Note: This will also reduce our trade deficit.
3. The Common-Sense act known as the Drive Safe Act is designed to bring a higher level of training for drivers under the age of 21 and allow them to obtain CDL certification. Our industry needs drivers and, in my opinion, additional training will benefit the industry for many years.
4. The Do Over Act extends the Alternate Fuel Tax Credits for the future instead of going back every year and giving retroactive credits. The propane industry has invested hundreds of million in infrastructure for propane autogas. It is a green fuel with 12% lower CO2, 20% lower NOx, 60% less CO and 80% less particulate matter than diesel. Everyone agrees it is good for the country using a domestically produced fuel which is environmentally friendly. It seems like every year it expires and they have to Do It Over again with retroactive credits. Just give us a reasonable time to build the system and the payoff will be for many years to come. Note: This will also reduce our trade deficit.

I always remember a scene from the movie The American President where Martin Sheen (Chief of Staff) tells Michael Douglass (President) “You fight the fights you can win? You fight the fights that need fighting!”

We may not win every fight for the industry, however we need to keep fighting the fights that need fighting and I would like to encourage anyone who is reading this to keep fighting the fight.

No one can predict the future and when it comes time for an owner to sell their company and move on to the next chapter in their life, it is a big step for them and their families. I caught up with some owners who sold their business and asked them their thoughts on looking back at their decision.

Ralph Mazal, Mazal Fuel Co dba: Economy Fuel: Bridgeport, CT

On June 15, 2009 Mazal Fuel Company sold their operating assets to Economy Energy, LLC. Economy Energy was a company formed by Gault Energy & Home Solutions of Westport, CT to purchase the assets of Economy Fuel.

Ralph Mazal started Mazal Fuel Company in 1975 when he purchased his first fuel truck. He was working in a factory and was looking for additional income to help support his wife and four small children. Over the next 34 years Ralph built a well-known company with almost two thousand customers.

Abbate: “Ralph, what do you miss most about the business?”

Mazal: “I particularly enjoyed speaking with my customers and I loved to see how my business was growing. Quitting my factory job and focusing full time on my fuel business was very gratifying. The one thing I miss most are my customers. Many were not just customers, they were friends.

Abbate: Do you have any regrets about selling?

Mazal: No regrets at all! There is a time for building a business, a time for selling a business and a time to start something else. My children were not interested in the business so my best course of action was to work with you to find the right buyer. I was very fortunate we found a great company to sell our business to. The people at Gault have been fantastic. I have continued to work for them in one aspect or another since the day I sold. I couldn’t be happier.

My time is now my own. I get up when I want to and I sit down and have a cup of coffee with my wife when I want to. I now have quality time to enjoy life and I still keep myself busy.

My business helped me pay college tuition bills and kept us comfortable. My four small children are no longer small. We now have eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. The family keeps me busy. We moved to Florida five years ago for a better lifestyle. We now live near one of our sons. I have always enjoyed working and I like being productive.

Abbate: What advice do you have for owners considering a sale?

Mazal: Find the right company to sell to. I did my best for the new owners and they did their best for me. We have a terrific relationship and that has made the transition very enjoyable. I know my customers are happy, which is a good thing.

I would also advise owners to enjoy their life and make time to sit down and have a cup of coffee with their wife when they want to.

Ralph Mazal in 2009

Dick Gower (Miracle Man), White Fuel Company, providence, RI

No one can predict the future. Dick would never have imagined that he would almost die while taking a walk by the beach. Thanks to a series of miracles, Dick is still with us today. I called Dick to catch up after working with him ten years ago on the sale of his company. I just wanted to know how he was doing and to my surprise, I learned of an amazing story of miracles and heroes. First, I want to give you some background on Dick and his company, then I will get to his survival story.

On Valentine’s day in 2007 White Fuel sold their assets to Griffith Energy Services. John R. White & Sons Coal Company was started in 1864, when Abraham Lincoln was president. White Coal Company soon became one of the largest distributors of coal in Rhode Island. In the 1930’s Samuel White, added fuel oil as a product and changed the name to White Fuel Company. In 1946 the company was sold by the White family to long time employee Harold Gower. Harold’s son Richard (Dick) returned from College in 1960 and soon took over the company. Over the next forty-six years, Dick grew the business through sales and marketing as well as through seventeen acquisitions.

Dick was also an industry advocate and served twice as the President of the New England Fuel Institute (NEFI). He also helped pioneer the NEFI training school and was President of the Rhode Island Oil Heat Council.

Abbate: “Dick, you were so involved in your business and the industry. What do you miss the most?”

Gower: “You know Steve, I miss the action, but most of all I miss the people I worked with and all the friends I met over the years. I also miss the families of my employees. I loved to see their children and grandchildren grow up. It was really great to attend the NEFI Legends Dinner this year just to see all my friends. They did a fantastic job with the event and they made me feel like a rock star.”

Abbate: “Do you have any regrets about selling?”

Gower: Actually I felt like I found a great company to sell to and I could continue being involved as a consultant. It enabled me to ease out and play more golf.” Not everything worked out exactly as planned but for the most part I was very pleased and so was Ellen.

Abbate: “So what have you been doing with yourself?”

Gower: After we sold, I loved to go to my farm and then down to Vero Beach in the winters. I built stone fences around the farm, and worked the farm until my arthritis got bad. I’m down in Vero most of the time now. Until May 4, 2015 I took a daily 2-mile, pick-up-the-trash walk with my trusty hand-hewn cane. I set my trusty cane into what turned out to be the very upper, untrusty, portion of the embankment. It sank in more deeply than I anticipated, I lost my balance, and from that second on, I have no recollection of what happened.

Thanks to Tori Cotton, pictured with Dick, and several other heroes. Dick’s life was saved after falling into a canal and sinking to the bottom.

Dick Gower, Sheriff’s Deputy, Carlos Negron, and Ellen Gower

Abbate: “What advice do you have for owners considering a sale?”

Gower: “Do it sooner rather than later to enjoy your life.”

One of my favorite card games that I play with my family is Fact or Crap. If you never played, it’s fairly simple. One person picks a card, reads it and the other players state if they think the statement is true (Fact) or false (Crap). I thought it would be helpful for this article to play the game. The answers are throughout the article so you have to read the whole thing to find them.

Are these statements Fact or Crap?

1. Elvis did a TV ad for a donut
2. The winter of 2015/16 was the warmest in recorded history
3. The world Chihuahua means “fearsome lizard dog” in the Aztec language.
4. The US Marines were founded in a Philadelphia tavern
5. A talking Barbie once complained, “Math class is tough.”

There is no public information on the fuel used to heat Graceland but some of the heating bills were probably paid for by the one and only commercial Elvis ever made for Southern Maid Donuts.

I recently attended the annual spring trade show circuit and everyone was talking about the warm winter. At two of the business programs I attended, panelists referred to this past winter as the warmest on record. It did not seem correct to me so I went to my degree day records to check. We use degree day records to normalize weather for financial analysis and for presenting businesses.

It is important for an energy marketer to understand how the weather effects their business. Sure, we know warm weather means less heating fuel sold and cold means more, but how much more or less can help you understand your business better. When analyzing the health of your business it is important to know if you have a stable customer base, and one of the ways to tell is by weather normalizing your gallons. You need to measure your business to manage it or you could be barking up the wrong tree like the small Mexican dog named for a major commercial center in the northern region of the country.

It certainly felt like the warmest winter in recorded history but our statistics show it was not. I looked at the calendar year, July to June and even the months of December-April and all proved out to be warmer than normal but not as warm as it was just a few years ago in 2011/12. The most acceptable way to measure weather is by counting degree days. Some analysts compare degree days from the previous year based on gallons delivered per degree day or by using a 30-year average. We prefer to use a 10 year average. The 10 year average is used by many companies selling weather insurance. All methods are acceptable as long as it is consistent from year to year. The following charts are an average of seven cities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country.

Comparing the last two winters we saw an almost 30% swing in winter degree days from year to year. That might drive you to drink, and if you do, you may want to have a drink at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia where the US Marines were founded in 1775. The degree day math is not hard although talking Barbie told children it was in 1992. What is hard is understanding how to plan for the elusive normal winter.