With all the fervor surrounding sustainability and saving the Earth over the last 10 years, its easy to forget that most peoples green-tinged rage began with four little words: four dollars a gallon. And while fuel prices may have decreased worldwide since those days, your local gas station attendant is not exactly a master of the global commodities market. This means that, while oil prices have dropped dramatically, you have only seen a modest decrease at your local filling station.
Taking a business model made famous by airlines like Southwest, fuel consultants Sokolis Group want to bring the savings from the worldwide oil market home to PA. This week, the Warrington-based fleet fuel team announced a partnership with MoreGallons.com, a service that allows drivers to buy fuel in bulk at the current market rate, saving excess fuel in a virtual fuel tank for later use. For companies who purchase thousands or millions of gallons of fuel per month, CEO Glen Sokolis says, this service is a no-brainer.
Over the last 14 days, the crude oil price has gone down almost 20 percent, the diesel price is down by 25 cents a gallon, but we have not seen that at the local station, says Sokolis. If you are buying 2,000 gallons a month, this allows you to buy at a price that you think is reasonable. I look at it like an insurance policy.
As Sokolis clients are generally looking to organize fleets of trucks and streamline overall fuel usage, a low rate is just one of the benefits provided by MoreGallons. Having a fixed price for fuel allows for simpler budgeting and prevents companies from having to go through an investment house to get their fuel rate.
While companies looking to create monitoring systems for their fuel usage are looking to save green more than go green, the end result is better awareness of waste. Through energy audits, PA companies can find fuel leaks and curb wasteful usage practices. In the past, Sokolis has advised companies on fuel card programs, anti-idling campaigns and ways of monitoring drivers. They even recommended mandating trucking routes to save fuel. The MoreGallons partnership, Sokolis says, is just another way to control fuel costs.
These companies that have over 30 branches are not usually looking at their usage, but at the dollars spent, says Sokolis. So they are not looking at gallons over gallons, month over month. We help monitor those gallons for them but, more importantly, we give more controls over buying fuel.
Source: Glen Sokolis, Sokolis Group
Writer: John Steele