(Jan. 15, 2015) After pulling a switch on propane service at the sports core pool late last month, Ocean Pines is looking into similar money-saving moves at other amenities.
General Manager Bob Thompson on Monday spoke about the likely change over during budget committee hearings at the Ocean Pines country club.
Thompson said the community paid close to $3 per gallon for piped propane from supplier Sandpiper Energy. Under new supplier Sharp Energy, which is owned by the same company, Chesapeake Utilities, as Sandpiper, the community is already saving a substantial amount.
“We put the tanks in at the sports core pool recently,” he said. “The pricing to fill the initial tanks was approximately $1.24 per gallon. Pretty significant differential.”
 “It’s our intent to continue in January. We’ve already got pricing to put tanks in at the other facilities,” Thompson said. “Sports core is now finished. That went seamlessly. That went well and now we’re looking at the other facilities based on location and where we could either put a tank in the ground or replace [existing infrastructure.]”
Thompson estimated the community could switch other amenities over to Sharp or a similar provider during the next 60 days.  
“They’ll be in long in advance to impact [the fiscal year 2016] budget,” he said.
“Sharp did a very, very good job putting [tanks] in at sports core pool,” Thompson continued.
We’ve actually looked at all our facilities where we could put the tanks in, so we’re going to keep moving forward with that initiative.”
Thompson said the community negotiated a “very attractive package” with Sharp to offset the cost of installation and the use of the propane tanks.
“They did a great job for us and we’re very, very pleased,” he said.