OHILI Memebership

At OHILI, we know how hard you've worked to build a successful business. We recognize the steadfast dedication with which you've served your customers, and we understand your goals. That's why membership in our organization is such an invaluable tool. OHILI is dedicated to your success by improving our industry all around. Furthermore, we are committed to the safety and welfare of the public we serve.

OHILI is comprised of the most highly regarded heating providers in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. When you join OHILI, you gain a strong voice in the federal, state and local legislative developments that affect your industry. We carefully monitor all events that could possibly impact your business interests. OHILI also represents marketers on the local and municipal level in addition to working with our statewide trade association, the Empire State Petroleum Association (ESPA), on a variety of state and federal issues. All OHILI members automatically become members of ESPA.

LEGISLATIVE-REGULATORY HIGHLIGHTS:

OHILI has been instrumental in the passage of the following legislation to benefit our industry:

• Continuing reductions in the State Petroleum Business Tax leading to its projected elimination.
  
• Enactment of financial incentive programs for underground tank replacement in the towns of East Hampton and Southampton.
  
• Re-definition of a "facility" under the State Bulk Storage Code to eliminate the mandatory replacement of multiple small tanks at the same site...e.g. shopping centers, churches, etc.
  
• Enactment of the state "fill-pipe" bill requiring permanent closure to prevent erroneous deliveries to unused tanks...thus limiting your potential financial and legal liability.
  
• Certification of tank removal, or closure and abandonment in the event of an oil to gas conversion.
  
• Enactment of automatic driver "hours of service" waivers during periods of extreme cold weather. Sometimes, however, it is legislation which, through our efforts, is not enacted which is far more important. A few examples:
  
  • Defeated a state proposal to require tank removal prior to any real property transfer.
    
  • Defeated state and local proposals to require mandatory upgrades of all residential oil tanks.
    
  • Defeated the imposition of an energy heating sales tax in Nassau County, while reducing the current Suffolk County tax by 1%.
    
  • Defeated proposals in both Counties to require carbon monoxide detectors in all oil-heated homes.
    
  • Defeated Suffolk County requirements for apprenticeship training programs for any county contracts... which would have eliminated virtually all county business.
    

OHILI is also very active in dealing with both County Legislatures, Health Departments, Fire Marshals, and Consumer Affairs Offices to protect our industry from a variety of unnecessary and unwarranted regulatory burdens. OHILI is your voice, the voice of our industry, before every level of government and before the media.

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE:

OHILI also provides technical assistance to our members and offers educational programs and seminars for all industry levels. We work hard to provide our member companies with the knowledge to help you better serve your customers. In addition to being the industry source for all technical information, OHILI also routinely sends out "Regulatory Updates" on a wide variety of issues and subjects such as:

• Changes to federal, state and local tax laws affecting either your business or your customers.
  
• Changes to state and county tank laws affecting either commercial or residential consumers or bulk storage terminals.
  
• Changes to N.F.P.A., state and local building codes affecting new equipment installations.
  
• Changes to federal and state hazardous materials transportation laws affecting either your drivers or your delivery vehicles.
  
• Changes to O.S.H.A. and state employee workplace safety laws.
  

Drug and alcohol testing is mandatory for all drivers holding a CDL with a haz. mat. endorsement. As a benefit for all OHILI member companies, OHILI provides the most comprehensive, cost-effective driver drug and alcohol testing program available anywhere in the industry. As a non-profit entity, the Consortium totally removes the entire compliance burden of this extremely complex program from your shoulders and allows you to concentrate on running your business. For a nominal annual fee for each driver, we run the entire program for you.

In addition to providing member companies with a reliable source of information about every aspect of the home heating oil business, OHILI also retains regulatory counsel both locally and in Albany to assist any of our members who experience compliance problems. Whether fighting the DEC in Albany, the County Health Dept., or a local town or village, our experienced legal team is there to help you.

TRAINING & EDUCATION:

With the help of funding from NORA - the National Oilheat Research Alliance - our own industry training and education programs (such as Introduction to Oil Heat and Air Conditioning classes) are up and running at our fully equipped training facility at the Grant Campus of Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Long Island.

In addition to providing the necessary training for service technicians to achieve and maintain the NORA Gold and Silver Certifications, the training facility provides both a classroom and a working laboratory capable of covering a wide variety of heating related training programs.

For a current schedule of CEU classes, please click here.

INDUSTRY PROMOTION:

Member company dues paid to OHILI are used to preserve, protect and promote the interests of the heating oil industry on Long Island through advertising and effective public relations.

Our objective is quite simple:

To make sure that every homeowner on Long Island sees and hears the oil-heat message that gas conversions make no economic sense whatsoever, and that substantial savings can be achieved by a homeowner who upgrades their existing system to modern, clean, dependable and safe oil heat. We want to make sure, that when it comes to oil heat..."everyone knows it's just better."