We, the PPPeople

Liquid heating fuels well represented in list of Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was established to incentivize small businesses to keep workers on payroll and/or rehire those who’d been laid off or furloughed due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program offered forgivable loans equaling up to two months of a company’s average monthly payroll costs from the previous year, plus an additional 25 percent of that amount, capped at $10 million.

Loan applications were accepted through August 8, 2020, with the program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and generally open to any company with fewer than 500 employees and which had been in business since at least February 15, 2020. Sole proprietorships, independent contractors, and the self-employed were also eligible.

Since the program was created with the March 27 signing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, NEFI has endeavored to continuously update liquid heating fuel businesses on the status of the PPP. In addition to sending regular email alerts, the association has posted information, links and time-stamped updates to its online Financial Resources Center (nefi.com/financial-resources-center).

On June 19, the SBA and U.S. Department of the Treasury announced they would make public additional data on the PPP, including information on businesses that received PPP loans of $150,000 or higher. This loan data was disclosed on July 6.¹ Shortly thereafter, Connecticut Energy Marketers Association Vice President David Chu conducted a survey of the data, extracting the listings of all liquid heating fuel businesses that received PPP loans of $150,000 or more. The survey revealed several key data points, shared here for the first time.

National Overview

According to our survey, at least 733 liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses received PPP loans of $150,000 or more.² These companies operate in states across the U.S. They sell a range of products, including but not limited to renewable liquid heating fuel, heating oil, biodiesel, diesel, propane, gasoline and HVAC equipment. All told, the liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses that received PPP loans of $150,000-plus retained anywhere from zero to 335 jobs.

Of the 733 liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses that received PPP loans of $150,000 or more:

Loan Amounts

• 25 received loans of $2 million to $5 million
• 47 received loans of $1 million to $2 million
• 224 received loans of $350,000 to $1 million
• 437 received loans of $150,000 to $350,000

Jobs Retained

• 74 retained 0 to 10 jobs
• 301 retained 11 to 25 jobs
• 186 retained 25 to 50 jobs
• 68 retained 50 to 100 jobs
• 57 retained 101 to 335 jobs
• 45 companies’ job retainment numbers were unlisted
• Average jobs retained per company (excluding 45 unlisted): 39.2

Home States

• 54 were located in Connecticut
• 82 were located in Massachusetts
• 27 were located in Maine
• 21 were located in New Hampshire
• 34 were located in New Jersey
• 90 were located in New York
• 55 were located in Pennsylvania
• 14 were located in Rhode Island
• 12 were located in Vermont
• 389 were located within the nine-state Northeast (New England, NY, PA and NJ)
• 344 were located outside the nine-state Northeast3
• 2 were located in Delaware
• 17 were located in Maryland
• 20 were located in Ohio
• 2 were located in West Virginia
• 15 were located in Virginia

Oil & Energy would like to thank CEMA Vice President David Chu and NEFI Vice President Jim Collura for their work researching and reporting on the PPP.


¹ SBA Paycheck Protection Program Loan Level Data is available online at https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares-act/assistance-for-small-businesses/sba-paycheck-protection-program-loan-level-data.
² This total was arrived at by searching disclosed loan data for NAICS Code 454310, the designation for both heating oil and propane sellers among other Fuel Dealers.
³ These companies were mostly propane dealers; see footnotes above for further context.

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