For years I received my oil, propane and heating service from a local family-owned company in Cherryfield. The owners knew me and provided excellent service. They sold to a family-owned oil company in Bangor, but service remained the same because they retained most of the same employees. That family-owned business was then sold to a Portland-area company. It was still family-owned, but the service was not the same and calls even if made to a local number seemed to be rerouted all over the state. You had to give an account number if you had service in more than one location, but at least you sensed that the customer service representative had some idea of the location of the towns in Washington County.
The Portland-area family company has recently been sold to a private equity group. I suspect that this group has no idea as to the location of towns in Maine nor of the tradition of trust and service that is inherent between the customer and her or his heating company. Will we all just be numbers on some spreadsheet and the goal will not necessarily be to protect us from the hazards of severe winter weather, but to meet some quarterly profit projection? I expect the reason why Maine oil companies are attractive to a private equity company is that for most of us in New England we have no choice but to use oil or propane.
Let’s hope that future renewable energy sources will not only combat climate change, but also allow us as consumers to have choices of how we wish to heat our homes and cook our food.
Jeffrey Lovit
Addison