OLR Report 2014-R-0069 answers several questions: What requirements govern prepaid home heating oil contracts in Connecticut? How do surrounding states regulate these contracts? Since 2011, which Connecticut home heating oil dealers have gone out of business, or filed for bankruptcy, without delivering the oil specified in the prepaid contracts?
Connecticut law (1) requires certain terms in prepaid home heating oil contracts, (2) requires that any prepaid oil contract be secured within five business days and specifies two acceptable methods, (3) requires oil dealers to notify the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) under certain circumstances, and (4) provides penalties for violations.
The surrounding states regulate prepaid heating oil contracts in various ways. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have contract term requirements and allow dealers to secure contracts in three different ways, compared to two in Connecticut. Rhode Island has contract term requirements but does not require dealers to secure their contracts. Massachusetts and New York do not have specific prepaid oil contract requirements. Rather, enforcement is governed by broader criminal and consumer protection statutes.
Since 2011, only Ace Oil has declared bankruptcy, but in the last decade at least four others have declared bankruptcy. (For more information on pre-2011 companies, see OLR Report 2010-R-0413.)
For more information, read the full report.
