OMA has new chairman, many missions

Glenn Pottberg, national sales and marketing manager for Thermo Pride, is the new chairman of the Oilheat Manufacturers Association (OMA), which continues to lobby for a rebate/loan program to increase sales of new oil heating equipment to replace outdated and inefficient models.

The group, which met June 8 in Boston before the Expo opened, noted that a program established in part by the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association (ICPA) could serve as a model for other states. The program in Connecticut is designed to assist low-income households by installing new higher-efficiency boilers and furnaces. Funding has been approved, and work started, on 374 houses in 97 towns in the state with a total cost of $1.89 million during the period from January through April 2009, according to an OMA report delivered at the meeting.

The association also reported that the U.S. Department of Energy’s AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) ratings ‘severely underestimate savings produced by new oil heating equipment installations,” based on research for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.