Blue Star Gas: Gold Star for Service
Renewables
Written by Meghan Flynn   
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Blue Star Gas: Gold Star for Service
With a reputation for service, this family owned propane distributor is an asset to the development of a national propane autogas market.
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Wherever you are in the country, if you have access to natural gas, it will most likely be your cheapest energy solution. But if you don’t have access, using propane for heat and hot water is by far the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution. In fact, propane is cleaner to burn than both oil and natural gas, is domestically available at a reasonable cost, and has been a proven source of energy around the world for decades.

That’s why Blue Star Gas, a propane marketer and distributor in California and the Pacific Northwest, has signed on with Alliance Autogas to help develop the national market for propane autogas use as fuel for vehicles.

Jeff Stewart is the president of Blue Star and immediate past chairman of the Benchmarking Council of the propane distribution sector. So he’s very excited about the company’s membership in Alliance Autogas, which began about six months ago.

“Propane reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of our customers’ vehicles by 60%, and the payback on their investment in a new vehicle propane fueling system takes only two years when they drive 30,000 miles or more per year,” he said. “There are many alternative vehicle fuels available, but propane is the least expensive to switch to, provides a longer range between tank refills than natural gas, has a no-cost fueling infrastructure with the program for fleets, and has the least negative impact on the environment.”

Alliance Autogas is a consortium of propane marketers, distributors, and conversion service providers across the country that supports the development of a propane autogas market. Stewart said autogas has been used as a fuel in Europe, India, and Asia for many years, and all the equipment that the alliance’s conversion equipment provider, American Alternative Fuels, use is imported, proven technology from the Netherlands and certified by the EPA.

The alliance targets public and private fleets of light duty vehicles like taxis and police cars and can provide equipment and fuel for many GM and Ford vehicles, including all of Ford’s pick-up trucks and the popular fleet choice, Ford’s Crown Victoria. Blue Star is responsible for delivering propane and marketing the concept to its market area of Washington, Oregon, and California.

There are more opportunities, too. As the propane autogas market develops and there are more fueling locations
to augment the existing ones, it will make more sense for individual consumers, even though there is a slower payback timeline due to fewer annual miles driven. Alliance Autogas is working on systems for medium-duty vehicles like package delivery vehicles. Stewart said it is commencing a 250-vehicle test with one of the major package delivery companies in the country for a fully dedicated propane autogas system. But there is still a huge amount of opportunity in its current market.

“It’s an extremely smart economic move for light and medium-duty fleets of vehicles, so we’ve had tremendous success already,” Stewart reported proudly.

Push information out
In the meantime, Stewart and his team continue to maintain the 70-year-old family business based in Santa Rosa, Calif., which is known locally for its excellent customer service and innovative culture.

“All our customers were pleased, but none I’ve spoken to were surprised about our involvement in Alliance Autogas, because we always strive to be proactive with value-oriented offerings to our customer base,” Stewart said.

Blue Star has tripled in size over the last 10 years while retaining many of the customers it’s been serving for decades. Stewart said a key differentiator for the company is its emphasis on empowered employees.

The company’s involvement with the Benchmarking Council over the years has been a big help in developing     a proactive environment centered on continuous improvement, but it’s not the only one. The company offers a wide array of scholarships for its employees to pursue whatever interests them in higher education, and Stewart said     that practice has also helped fostered a collaborative and innovative environment, as well as an emphasis on     continuous improvement.

“I strongly believe that the best way we can provide our customers with world class service is to push as much information as we can down the organization and out to the field, so any employee can answer just about any question right away,” Stewart said.

For example, all of Blue Star’s drivers have wireless computers in their trucks to access a customer’s account or the company’s database. The company has also spent the last 10 years investing in other technology, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and tank monitoring equipment to provide ever-richer data for its employees.

Few propane companies, according to Stewart, have a company-wide deployment of tank monitoring system for all customers and have no idea how much fuel they need for any given refill trip. Blue Star not only knows how much fuel trucks will need when going out for refills, but also when those tanks will likely need another refueling thanks to the company’s database. Stewart said this is helpful in predicting demand over a long period of time.

Since Blue Star started installing tank monitoring equipment three years ago, it’s connected about 65% of the tanks it services, and Stewart plans to reach 80% in the next year or so. As a result of this system, the company has reduced its service interruption rate, or its out-of-gas calls, by 75%.

“No one likes a cold shower in the morning, so coming as close as we can to eliminating the instances of surprise empty tanks for our customers is a key priority for us,” Stewart said. “Our customers certainly appreciate our efforts in doing so, and our success is due to the fact they know we are always trying to improve our services for them.” 
 
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