LUCAS WILLARD: WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes joins us now.
Hello Josh!
JOSH LANDES: Hi Lucas!
You’ve been reporting for weeks on one of the two fuel companies named in the letter Democrat Andrea Campbell issued Tuesday. When did Superior Plus Propane and its frustrated customers first come across your radar?
In early February, I first started hearing from folks in Berkshire County who said despite having paid for automatic refills to their tanks, Superior Plus Propane’s service was disastrously poor. Julia Kaplan lives in Becket, a small, lovely Berkshire community that’s set deep in the woods and hills. She was alarmed to find that during the extreme cold the Northeast experienced this winter, the company had allowed her tank to dip frighteningly low. That’s despite its promise that the gas supply was being monitored and would automatically trigger a refill when the tank got below 30% full. When she saw it was down to 10%, she tried to reach out to Superior Plus to find out what was going on.
KAPLAN: “I tried calling, and I was on hold for over 20 minutes, and then I finally get through to an answering service that was subcontracted out, I'm guessing, because they did not have access to my account information, and they said they would get the information to Superior on the next business day. This was a Saturday that I’m down to 10%.”
For people like Kaplan – residents of these small Western Mass communities – it’s really frightening to not confidently know when to next expect heating fuel, especially when wind chill is pushing temperatures down way below zero.
KAPLAN: “Over the weekend, I look at it again, and I'm down to 7%. So, I then turn my thermostat down low to like 60, and kick on space heaters so that the furnace doesn't kick on so I don't run out of fuel, because it says on their recording that they might not be able to get to us, and they might not be able to service us due to the extreme weather conditions. They say it right there- Forget it. They don't know when they're going to get to us.”
I checked in with State Representative Leigh Davis of the 3rd Berkshire District, and she confirmed the problem was regionwide.
DAVIS: “We have a lot of calls from Becket, Sheffield, Middlefield, Hinsdale, Peru, Worthington, and they range from not being able to get on to the website to fill out a form saying they're in need of service to not having their phone calls delivered to someone arriving at their home after being out of town and having burst pipes and having a disaster when they when they arrived after being on the autofill.”
When I first approached Superior Plus for comment, they said that they acknowledged delays for customers during “periods of extremely high seasonal demand,” citing extreme cold, snowfall, and difficult road conditions as significant challenges, and offering both an apology and commitment to improve service.
So, Josh, where did the story go from there?
That first piece of reporting really opened the floodgates. I talked to a number of Superior Plus customers in Western Mass., who told me some version of a story in which they had discovered their tanks were empty, despite having paid for autofill. They then struggled to get in touch with the company to secure new fuel, which often took extended periods of time to actually arrive.
Many of the frustrated customers I spoke with said they were done with the company after this season, like Jim Dunn of Belchertown.
DUNN: “I sent an email that indicated that they breached their contract, and then why I wanted all fees waived, because they charge you to pick up their tanks, which is hysterical- It's their equipment! And the other thing to realize is, because they own the tanks, no other propane company will touch them. So, in effect, they have you held hostage because you can't get your tanks filled.”
When I reached out to them a second time, Superior Plus basically gave me the exact same answer from the first time, but added that fuel is delivered “based on customers’ actual usage, weather conditions, and delivery timing.”
And all of this leads up to Attorney General Campbell’s message to Superior Plus Propane and AmeriGas this week demanding they fix their delivery issues and communication failures, pronto.
That’s right Lucas. Elected officials, including the aforementioned Leigh Davis and fellow Democrat State Senator Paul Mark of the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire District, were directing their constituents struggling with these fuel companies to go to the AG’s office, and it looks like the outcry reached enough of a boiling point for Campbell to take action.
Now, I’ve reached out to Superior Plus to see if they have any response to her letter, but at this point, they’ve said nothing. Campbell says anyone experiencing issues with the companies to continue to reach out to her office.
WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes. Thanks Josh.
Thank you, Lucas- and thanks to the people in Western Mass who reached out to WAMC to make this community reporting possible.
