In The Media

Metrowest Daily News
Warming trends
Tuesday, October 31, 2002

Joyce Mueller's house looks like many other houses built around MetroWest during the 1950s.

Known as a Campanelli slab - after the builder who put up thousands of ranch houses in the area - it was never an easy home to heat.

The houses were built with a series of heating coils in the concrete floors. Hot air rises from the floor to heat the whole house. But it is not the most efficient way to heat a home, according to local energy experts.

Mueller got tired of her rising heating bills, and recently converted to a baseboard heating system that allows her to control the heat in different areas of the house. Now she can turn the heat to 70 degrees in her bedroom and turn it down in the living room while she sleeps.

With heating oil costs expected to skyrocket again this year, many MetroWest homeowners are taking steps to keep bills low.

New Englanders living at the end of the fuel supply line and without an oil refinery in the region, stand to be the hardest hit by soaring oil prices as cold weather sets in...

there are other less expensive ways to lower heating bills without replacing an entire heating system, local home oil retailers said.

"You can spend zillions of dollars, but what you really want to do is spend as little as possible to save as much as you can," said Tom Carey, president of Jamie Oil in Framingham.

Carey walked through Mueller's Framingham home recently to find ways to save her money.

Windows and doors are the biggest heat-loss culprits. Anywhere light peeks through, heat escapes, Carey said, examining a crack at the bottom of Mueller's front door.

"For $15 you can replace the metal striking plate at the bottom of the door and take care of that draft," Carey said.

The easiest way to save money: turn the heat down at night or during the day when no one is home. Buy be careful not to turn it too low - nothing under 60 degrees - because pipes can freeze and burst, oil heat retailers said.

"You can outsmart yourself," Carey said. "When it is extremely cold, turning down zones (areas of the house) that are exposed to the elements could freeze pipes."

If homeowners cannot trust themselves to remember to turn the heat down when they go to bed or when they leave the house for work, a clock thermostat will do the trick. Available at any hardware store, clock thermostats - which sell for around $130 - can be programmed to lower or raise heat at set times...

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Metrowest Daily News
Auen, Gallagher join Jamie Oil
September 2000 - Framingham

Two of the most talented and experienced service men in the oil heat trade, Rick Auen and John Gallagher, announced their intentions to join the Jamie Oil Staff earlier today. Auen, a Hopkinton native and a longtime employee of Terry Oil, is expected to fill a critical role in the growing Jamie organization. Over the last thirty years, Auen served in almost every role imaginable for the Terry Brothers. In recent years, he was promoted to Vice President and General Manager, and prior to that he served as Bill Terry's Service Manager. Gallagher, also originally from Hopkinton, has worked with Auen over the last twelve years. John is recognized as the top "hands-on" field service technician in Middlesex County according to industry experts.

"This move will put Jamie Oil in the big time," claims seasoned oil man Harold Brown. "Now Jamie can compete with anybody.....they already have the best fixed price programs, now they have the best service men, too."

Terry is known to have considered Auen and Gallagher, "...the two best guys we ever had, and they work very well together." Industry insiders expect Auen to play a major role in reorganizing and streamlining the Jamie operation. Auen is to assume the role of General Manager, and Gallagher to head up the Service Department, which currently bills out $1,000,000 per year.

Bruce Arsenault, currently of Knight Fuel in Hudson and a former Gallagher student, "I have worked with both men, John Gallagher is the best teacher and mentor I've ever had, and Rick Auen is simply an ace!"

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Hopkinton Crier
Jamie Oil keeps the personal touch
October 22, 2001

When Mary Carey's longtime oil delivery man, Ricky Auen, left Terry Oil for Framingham-based Jamie Oil, Carey missed him enough to switch suppliers.

The Pleasant Street resident tracked down Auen at his new company when she needed a new oil burner, and he said he'd be over the next day. Carey was pleasantly surprised when she received a visit not only from Auen, but also from Tom Carey (no relation), a Hopkinton resident who is president of Jamie Oil.

They chatted for a while, and found out that they shared more than the same last name: Mary Carey's nephew was Tom Carey's neighbor. Jamie offered her a senior citizen's discount on the price of her new oil burner and her fuel oil. Just before he and Auen left, Tom Carey said:

"You know where I live. If you have any problems, any time of the night, just call me at home."

Over the past few years, as many local oil companies - including Hopkinton's Terry Oil - have been bought by large corporations in distant cities, Jamie is one of the few that have stayed locally owned. Carey has worked hard to maintain the personal touch that customers enjoy from a local business, along with the amenities that a larger company can provide.

Carey, who spent two years at Terry Oil and learned the home heating business from the former owner Bill Terry, bought Jamie Oil in 1997. Since then, business has heated up. The company serves a total of 4,000 homes in the Metrowest area, up from 2,400 a year ago.

In Hopkinton, approximately 1,000 homes, or 24 percent of the households get their heating oil from Jamie, up from just 400 two years ago. Carey said that many of them are former Terry Oil customers whose delivery people left Terry to join his operation.

As the business grows, Carey remains a hands-on president. He often makes deliveries himself during the cold weather when demand for heating oil is high. He makes the effort to get to know his customers and personally handle any problems - including replacing a basketball hoop that one of his delivery trucks accidentally knocked down.

At the same time, he has strengthened his business by buying up some smaller operators.

"There has been a lot of consolidation in our business, "Carey said.”That's because the smallest operators often can't offer the fixed price programs that customers want. Oil companies also must offer 24-hour service, and there are not too many technicians who are willing to be on call all the time. So you need to be big enough so that you can hire at least six or seven technicians, and give each of them only one night to be on call." Jamie Oil now has six oil trucks and seven service vans.

Being bigger also gives Jamie some leverage in working with its suppliers and buying fuel at a good price. This year, the company is offering its customers some protection from the uncertainty of the oil markets, where prices are falling but may go up if Iraq joins the Middle East conflict, Carey said.

"Whenever there is trouble in the Middle East, prices usually go up," said Carey. "That's why the cost of a gallon of fuel temporarily went up 15 cents after the September 11 bombings. But the way people feel now, if the war is limited to Afghanistan and there is a world-wide recession, prices will continue to go down." When the cost of a barrel of oil goes up or down by a dollar, the cost of a gallon of fuel oil changes by 2 cents, he said.

Carey gives his customers the option to lock in a price of $1.29 a gallon, which guarantees them that they won’t pay any more. However, he said that he reduces the customer's price when oil prices fall and he is able to buy heating oil for less. He also gives senior citizens a 5 cent per gallon discount, with an additional 3 cents off if they enroll in the budget plan, which spreads the payments out over a one-year period. Customers also get a break if they prepay for their fuel.

Jamie encourages its customers to lock in their rates during the summer, when oil can often be bought more cheaply, Carey said. He then stockpiles an optimum amount of fuel at the summer price, and replenishes it during the heating season.

Customers say that price and dependability are paramount when choosing a home heating oil supplier - but being local doesn't hurt.

"If it wasn't a good company, and I couldn't depend on them, then I wouldn't go with them," said Mary Carey. "But you get a different feeling when you work with people who live in the town. They treat you better."