Citizens Energy is a non profit organization that offers limited financial assistance to qualifying families. The organization was founded in 1979 by Joseph Kennedy II and has provided some financial relief for many families affected by high and rising energy costs.
Zadrozny Fuel has participated with Citizens Energy for the past several years to help low income families. If a family is approved they typically can receive 100 gallons of oil. For information about Citizens Energy please visit their website and/or give them a phone call.
Citizens Energy phone numbers:
Main Number: (617) 338-6300
Fax Number: (617) 542-4487
Citizens Energy email address: inform@citizensenergy.com
What is the Citizens Energy Oil Heat Program?
In partnership with CITGO, Citizens Energy works with thousands of oil heat dealers and local fuel assistance agencies in 24 states to provide deliveries of home heating oil to those in need. This year the Oil Heat Program provided eligible families a one-time delivery of 100 gallons of home heating oil.
Why is the Program Needed?
In states like Massachusetts, heating oil prices have increased considerably since 2000, yet the wages for low-income families and individuals have remained stagnant. The federal government provides some help to low-income families struggling to stay warm during the winter through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), but this assistance historically has reached only about one in five eligible families. And many other working poor families who do not qualify for federal assistance programs still need help from time to time.
Low-income families have little choice but to cut back on food, medicine, and other life essentials when their home energy costs rise. Bad choices lead to bad outcomes. When the heating bills of poor families rise, studies show they often reduce their spending on food by about the same amount, and it is no surprise that cases of undernourished children increase by about one-third during winter months.
The Citizens Energy Oil Heat Program works to provide struggling families with a bit of relief when temperatures hit freezing and high heating oil prices force families to make difficult and often unsafe trade-offs.
We’d like to let anyone interested know that we participate with the New York State Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) program. There has been some confusion as to what name we are listed under with the HEAP program. Most of our customers know us as Zadrozny Fuel, but HEAP has us listed as J. Zadrozny Inc. so if you are accepted into the program and cannot find us please check under both names. We’ve attempted to resolve this but are not sure when or if that will be done. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
We have nothing to do with who is accepted into the program, so if you have questions about the HEAP program, please visit their website where they have all the information you will need to learn about HEAP.
The Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) phone number/hotline is: 1-800-342-3009
Programmable thermostats are great for managing the heat of your house and conserving on fuel usage. One thing you can’t forget if you have one of these is to annually REPLACE the batteries. If you don’t check, the batteries will eventually corrode the terminals and render the thermostat useless which will result in no heat and a service call that is not covered under most fuel oil contracts.
The batteries, even while corroding can provide enough energy to make the thermostat appear to be fine and then when it finally dies, you need new batteries and a new thermostat. Even if the batteries look good they MUST be changed annually. The cost of buying a new programmable thermostat ranges from $70 dollars onward so do yourself a favor and replace the thermostat batteries each time you change your fire alarm batteries and/or carbon monoxide alarm batteries.
If your heating system isn’t working, you might ask yourself what should I do? There are several simple steps that you should do before you call your home heating provider. These might save you some trouble or even save you the cost of a service call. Most companies will charge the homeowner even if they are under contract if the cause of the call was self induced.
- Check the thermostat. Turn it well above room temperature. Someone may have adjusted the setting so start here if your house feels too cold. Children love to flick switches and turn knobs so always check before calling.
- Check the master on/off furnace/boiler/hot water switch. Is it on or off? If it is off flip it on. Someone very easily could have flipped the switch on you. A house guest, a child, etc…
- Check your electrical panel for blown fuses or tripped breakers.
- Make sure there is oil in your tank. If your tank is above ground, there usually will be a gauge that is easy to read. If it is below ground, you will need a measuring stick to “stick” the tank and determine if you have oil or not.
- If the burner has shut off on safety, press the red button on the primary control (or a glowing red button on a Riello brand burner). Make sure the thermostat is set above room temperature and ONLY PRESS THE RESET BUTTON ONCE. Pressing the reset button more than once will flood the system with oil and cause more trouble, along with a lot of smoke and soot when it lights. If the system should fail a second time, or fail to operate after pressing the reset button, call your service technician.
Here is an article we recently submitted to the Huntington Chamber of Commerce’s environmental newsletter regarding ways to reduce your oil consumption:
Most people don’t associate oil with having a positive impact on the environment. The fact is, however, that millions of people in the US are reliant on oil and other fossil fuels for many of their everyday tasks. Unless you are prepared mentally and financially to make the changes necessary to be as free as possible from the burning of fossil fuels, you should look toward the conservation of resources as the least you can do to make a positive impact. Continue reading →
