Costs of home heating oil vs. off-road diesel is a ripoff

There is a serious ripoff involving what I see as price gouging going on here in St. Mary’s County. I can prove it.

We are victims having paid $180 extra for home heating oil on Feb. 16. I do not throw blame when there are so many remaining unknowns, so I will list the relevant knowns and unknowns. It may or may not involve blame, culpability or scandal. This was weeks prior to the Ukraine war-based spike.

First the knowns:

• Two competitive local sources of home heating oil, known as HHO, in mid-February were charging about 60 cents per gallon more for than for off-road diesel fuel, known as ORD.

• ORD and HHO fuels are identical and both are dyed. Both companies agreed that is true.

• We paid $1,166.40 for a 300 gal HHO delivery on Feb. 16 including the 1.25% county energy tax of $14.40. That was $180 plus $14.40 energy tax, which equals $194.40 more than we would have paid on that same day to have 300 gallons of ORD delivered.

• Both sources were very sensitive about penalties for delivering ORD to my HHO tank. Both were verbally misinformed (and misinformed me) about a claimed tax differential and both blamed the state.

• State review found that there is no such difference in state taxation. This gouging is not due to state taxation. Suppliers told investigators that the price difference was due to difference in wholesaler pricing. They no longer claimed that it was due to state taxation.

• We now know that penalty concerns of the fuel delivery companies are based on the county energy tax levied on HHO but not levied on ORD.

• After state investigators contacted both fuel suppliers, at least one miraculously made the price for their ORD exactly the same as that for their HHO in two weeks or less time.

• We paid $180 extra so that at the county could collect $14.40 in tax. And here are the unknowns:

• How extreme has this gouging price difference been? What were the extremes, say over the past several months or years?

• Are farmers and ORD-buying people now being newly gouged since the ORD was suddenly brought up to the same price as the HHO?

• Why did the wholesalers charge such huge differences in price for the exact same product and suddenly make ORD and HHO prices the same just after state investigation? How much of that was really the wholesalers? How much of this is legal?

• Who in our government knew this and when? Are counties with an “energy tax” being used for a gouging scheme of some sort?

• Can the county take steps to see that their energy tax is not being used as an excuse to gouge customers?

• Besides the two vendors I dealt with directly, what is the overall picture for all of our local fuel delivery companies?

• What is the overall scope of this gouging and unfair differential? How much money was involved? Hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more?

There are many unknowns, but I know this was an unjustified, $180 hit on us.

It is important for the authorities (county, state or combination of the governments) to get knowledge of the facts and history far broader than my one provable data point. Find out if there is potential illegal activity, whether discrepancies can be prevented in the future and what solution can be implemented that is fair and beneficial to all. Where are our investigative reporters when we need them?

Bill Rymer,