PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Irving Oil has completed its purchase of Lebanon, N.H.-based Johnson & Dix Fuel Corp.'s heating oil and propane business and seven of its convenience retail stores in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The transaction, which closed yesterday, includes Johnson & Dix's residential and commercial home heating business in New Hampshire and Vermont. It does not include the Johnson & Dix wholesale gasoline business.
We are very pleased to be growing our business in New Hampshire and Vermont with this purchase [image-nocss] of high-quality retail stores and a full-service heating oil and propane business, said Mike Crosby, Portsmouth, N.H.-based head of marketing for Irving, which is headquarters in Saint John, new Brunswick. It's a perfect fit for us. We're extremely proud to welcome the Johnson & Dix family into ours. They have a well run business and an excellent and well-earned reputation.
The sale includes six convenience retail stores in the New Hampshire communities of Belmont, Rochester, Grantham, Meredith, Warner and Lebanon, and one in the Vermont community of Springfield. As part of this transition, the vast majority of J&D employees will continue in their current positions as part of the Irving Oil team.
We are taking every step to ensure this will be a seamless transition, Crosby said. There will be no immediate change to customer accounts, service or deliveries. Customers may continue to use the same phone numbers and offices they currently use for service.
Both Irving and Johnson & Dix have strong local ties to the Upper Valley and Vermont areas. Irving operates customer service centers in West Lebanon and Claremont, N.H., and Barre and Rutland, Vt., as well as seven other locations in New Hampshire.
Since 1970, Johnson & Dix has been owned and operated by the Breed family. Chairperson William Breed works with daughter Penny Breed, Johnson & Dix's president and CEO.
Johnson & Dix Fuel Corp. was founded in 1931 in Springfield, Vt., by J.L. Johnson and Walter Dix. Major growth in the company occurred under the leadership of J.L. Johnson's daughter, Bernice Johnson, through the 1940s and 1950s. The company was purchased by William J. Breed in 1970, whose family has been in the fuel business since 1880. Today, Johnson & Dix is a major regional petroleum marketer in New England.
Irving Oil remains a family-owned regional refining and marketing company focused on customer service and supply chain management.It serves customers at its Bluecanoe and Mainway c-stores and with home heat, commercial and wholesale operations in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts.
In other Irving Oil news, Canadian consumer watchdog group Option Consommateurs, with Ginette B achard, has filed a motion for authorization to institute a class-action lawsuit against Irving Oil. According to the petitioners, the oil company overtaxed gasoline prices. The class action aims at compensating consumers.
The Fuel Tax Act requires Quebec consumers to pay a tax of a few cents for each liter of fuel they purchase. The law also provides for a lower rate of tax in border regions in order to take into account competition between gas stations on both sides of the border. This tax is also reduced in regions termed peripheral or designated.
On May 25, 2004, the Court of Appeal ordered Irving Oil to reimburse $884,779 (Canadian) in overcharged taxes. In its judgment, the Court said that from January 1993 to December 1997, the oil company charged customers taxes higher than permitted under the law at its stations located near the Quebec-New Brunswick border. The oil company would have done the same thing in other regions, the suit claimed. The suit asserted that this was a repeat offence. It said that in 1993, the company was ordered to remit more than $188,000 to Revenue-Quebec for a similar infraction. In so doing, the suit maintained, Irving Oil would have contravened not only the Fuel Tax Act, but also the Competition Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Code of Quebec.
Irving Oil spokesperson Jennifer Parker told CSP Daily News: "We have just received the legal papers. We are in the process of reviewing them. We believe the case is without merit; that there was no loss suffered by consumers. It is our intention to vigorously defend against it."
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