Tanya West of Landisville let it go the first time her home heating oil tank went empty in December.

But when it happened again last month, she called her oil supplier, Dale Skaggs, owner of Davis Energy Services, 1360 Manheim Pike.

"I never checked the gauge. I have an auto-refill deal with Davis, but they only partially filled the tank and I ran out again," said West, 70, a customer of Davis' since 1999.

Skaggs Thursday said rising wholesale oil prices have forced Davis to deliver partial shipments to customers. He admitted some customers have run out of oil.

"Normally our minimum delivery is 150 gallons, but because of these ridiculous prices, we've delivered less," Skaggs said.

Skaggs said the majority of his customers, including West, enrolled in the "top protection" program and locked in home-heating oil prices last summer at $2.69 or $2.99 per gallon.

Prices ballooned to about $3.35 per gallon this week.

"Currently we are delivering at a deficit," Skaggs said. "But we're still delivering oil, even if we're losing dollars. We said we would lock a price in, and we've kept our word."

Though Skaggs said instances where a customer's tank has run dry are four times higher this season, from 10 last year to 40 this year, most customers have been understanding.

"People have run out of oil. It's our fault, but we have a technician come out and dump 10 gallons, get (their furnace) fired and follow with a truck the next day," Skaggs said.

But West, who feared she would run out of oil for a third time while temperatures dipped into the teens this week, was not happy with Skaggs' explanation.

"It makes no sense to me that a business would want to send technicians all over the county to restart oil heaters," West said.

Davis Energy's office is at the site of the Petroleum Products terminal, where a Valero Corp. pipeline delivers product for home heating oil companies in the area.

George W. Davis Jr. launched G.W. Davis Oil Co. in 1933. The family operated the business until 2006, when Skaggs purchased the company.

West, who said she signed with a new heating oil company Thursday, said Skaggs stated its shortage problem was supply related.

"They said (their supplier) had limited their heating oil allocation and that they had to spread it out among their customers," West said.

Oil dealers contacted for this story offered little sympathy for Davis Energy.

Joel Miller, general manager of Schwanger Bros. & Co. in Lancaster, said Davis' problems are likely caused by inexperience in the oil business. Unlike Schwanger Bros., Davis does not rent space in bulk storage tanks to use as a buffer against oil price spikes.

"This year has been difficult enough for a veteran with decades in the business," Miller said. "Price fluctuations are tricky, but this year they've gone one way — up."

Miller said home heating oil has gone up 40 cents a gallon in the past month and could continue rising. Wednesday, the price of a barrel of oil went above $102 for the first time, going to $102.08 before eventually closing just under $100.

Heating oil companies also face higher delivery costs. The average cost for a gallon of gasoline in Lancaster was almost $3.17 Thursday, up from $2.37 a year ago; diesel sold for an average of $3.74 per gallon, up $1.10 per gallon from a year ago.

Miller said this year's home-heating oil market is the opposite of last year when expected high wholesale prices never materialized.

Dealers in fall 2006 locked in wholesale prices of oil to be purchased in the winter at more than $3 per gallon — but the price went to only $2.50, Miller said.

"Prices can go either way," Miller said. "Experience would tell you that you should protect yourself on both ends."

E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com