Besche Oil Company: A Tradition of Service
Utilities-Generation-Transmission
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Besche Oil Company: A Tradition of Service
This second-generation oil business is looking to the future while remaining rooted in its core values of high-quality service.
Premier Business Partners:

Citgo Petroleum
R.E. Michel Company
Besche Oil is a family-run business that has its roots in the economic boom times following World War II. Today, much as it was in the 1940s, the company’s mission is to deliver quality products, such as heating oil, kerosene, and fuel oil at competitive prices and in an environmentally sound manner to its customers in Southern Maryland.

Besche Oil Company: A Tradition of Service
Michael Besche, president
Jack Dyson and Cap Schaeffer founded the company in 1948 as Dyson Oil. Three years later, Tony Besche joined the company as it relocated to Waldorf, Md. In the beginning, the company had one delivery truck and operated one Sunoco station, but by 1963, it had grown to 30 gas stations and several thousand fuel accounts. That year, Dyson retired and the company changed its name to Besche Oil.

Michael Besche took over the helm of the company in 1973, after his father passed away, and now serves as president. Much as his father had done, Besche focused on growing the company while maintaining its reputation for high-quality service. Despite the oil embargo in 1973 and the consolidation of the oil industry, Besche acquired several other oil companies and expanded its geographic reach as it became more of a total home comfort company.

Delivery with a difference
Most of the company’s customers take advantage of its automatic delivery service. With the service, the company takes responsibility for monitoring its customers’ oil supply through usage and weather.

By monitoring temperature changes 24 hours per day, the company anticipates the next delivery and offers protection from running out of oil. The oil prices fluctuate as the market price for oil fluctuates, but there is a ceiling price protection for customers. There are also no minimum deliveries, delivery charges, or fees.

The ceiling price protection guards against price spikes due to severe weather or political instability. Customers who opt to pay the annual fee for the price protection always pay the market price when it is below the ceiling price. Each winter, the company establishes the maximum price per gallon for the program.

Besche also offers will call delivery, where customers are responsible for monitoring their own oil usage and must call for a delivery 72 hours in advance. No matter which service a customer chooses, the company goes above and beyond when it comes to making the customer gets the most for their money.

The company follows strict Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia regulations to ensure that its trucks have calibrated meters, but the company goes the extra step. All of its delivery trucks have a feature that prevents the truck from being moved while a ticket is in the meter. This feature assures that all of the fuel delivered did go into the tank.

Besche also has satellite tracking in each of its vehicles to monitor its drivers’ performance, increasing the commitment to worry-free delivery. Each customer gets a copy of the invoice left at the door indicating the amount of fuel metered, the gallons delivered, unit price, applicable taxes, date delivered, and the product type.

More than just deliveries
The company’s commitment to quality service extends beyond its oil delivery service. It provides quality service for a wide range of heating and cooling equipment, including Trane, Carrier, and Honeywell and for most brands of oil and electric hot water heaters.

Besche’s gas or oil furnace tune-up and inspection includes cleaning and adjusting of the oil burners, vacuuming of the heat exchanger, cleaning the chimney base, and installing a new oil burner nozzle, oil filter cartridge, and oil burner pump strainer. The air conditioner or heat pump tune-up and inspection includes cleaning the evaporator coil, condenser coil, and condensate drains; checking the air pressure across the evaporator and condenser, contactors, relays, compressors, refrigerant pressure, and filters; inspecting wiring, pulleys, and belts; testing for proper voltage; checking for vibration and noise; and lubricating bearings and motors.

The company also installs a variety of heating and air conditioning equipment. Besche’s factory-trained service technicians design and install energy efficient and environmentally responsible heating and cooling systems. The company also offers computerized heating and cooling size calculations and estimates free of charge.

As heating and cooling systems age, they can lose their ability to cool or heat a home. When it is time to change an old or inefficient system, Besche is committed to offering solutions for its customers’ most difficult challenges by determining which new system is best for the customers and the environment. Replacing current heating and cooling systems can reduce high-energy costs as much as 1% to 30%.

The company is looking to move forward and growing by focusing on continuous improvements and staying diverse. By investing in its fleet and upgrading its equipment, the company has stayed a leader in the market in Southern Maryland. In addition to investing in it equipment, Besche Oil also works hard to make sure its employees are the best trained and most knowledgeable in the region.

By reaching into more communities with the continuing goal of being a total home comfort company, customers have the opportunity to have one company to trust for a wide range of needs. Besche’s talented staff is looking to the future with an increased emphasis on high-tech equipment, a growing number of services, and our new quality assurance program while remaining grounded in the tradition of personal service begun by the company’s founders.
 
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