UPDATE (October 18, 2019): This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to whale oil being among the company's first products.

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MONROE — Looking back on a century of service, four members of the Sippin family sat down recently with The Newtown Bee to highlight how Sippin Energy Products has helped keep countless customers across western Connecticut and beyond warm or cool, depending on the season.

Brothers Gary, Mark, and Dave were joined by Eric Sippin, who represents the newest generation of the family to sign on and keep the “family owned and operated” tradition of service and quality customer care alive in the 21st Century.

“I’ve worked here every summer since I was a teenager,” said Eric Sippin, who helps handle marketing for the Monroe-based company. “It’s nice to see the evolution of our family in this business going back 100 years.”

“We started off with wood, then it was coal, kerosine, and oil. Today, we are actually offering our customers biofuel that’s partially made with soybeans. It provides a clean burn and produces a low carbon footprint.”

Along with a recent expansion to incorporate home generator sales, installation, and service, Gary Sippin said the company is about to unveil a new propane storage terminal.

“This will be a half-million dollar project that will provide great convenience and reinforces our commitment to our many propane customers,” Dave Sippin said. “We’re also growing our HVAC sales and service division to mirror the fastest growing segment of the energy business.”

The Sippin family previously was involved in motorcycle sales and service, which caught the interest of Mark Sippin. He spent 16 years helping grow their family dealership carrying Suzuki, Honda, BMW, Yamaha, and Kawasaki bikes to one of the largest motorcycle companies in Connecticut.

In 1987, he transitioned into the family’s real estate division, which invested in retail shopping centers, commercial and industrial facilities, and office buildings. Mark Sippin preceded his brother’s involvement by just one year, having taken over management of that subsidiary in 1986.

From Russia To Monroe

According to a retrospective prepared for an anniversary event earlier this year, the company began its 100-year journey in 1919 with its founder, Irving Sippin, who immigrated to the United States from Russia just after the turn of the century.

He initially moved to New York City and lived with other Russian immigrants before moving to Monroe around 1910. At that time, the predominant energy products were coal, and to a lesser degree kerosene, which was referred to at the time as Range Oil.

Irving Sippin regularly drove his truck to Bridgeport to pick up coal and kerosene for his farm and soon began delivering coal, kerosene, and gasoline to neighboring farms. In the beginning, providing energy for homes was hard work.

Coal was delivered in bulk and was also commonly delivered in 50- and 100-pound sacks, which had to be hand-carried into homes. Kerosene was delivered in five-gallon cans. In the late 1930s, diesel fuel was adapted to burn in home heating systems and was referred to as No. 2 fuel oil.

In the late 1920s and ‘30s additional family members joined the business, including eldest son Maxwell and second eldest son Victor, who was lost during active duty in World War II in 1944. After World War II, the business began to grow significantly with the youngest son, Bernard, joining the company.

That growth prompted the development of a new facility that was built on Main Street in Monroe, which exists to this day.

As the company evolved over time, so have the products. Heating oil itself has changed quite dramatically over the past ten years and has now been transformed into an ultralow sulfur, clean burning biofuel, which is the cleanest burning fuel available in Connecticut.

Sippin Energy Products was a very early adopter of biofuels and now incorporates approximately 20 percent soybean biofuel into its heating fuel product, which they call UltraBio4. Biofuels are not only good for the environment, but they are renewable and support American farmers.

The company has also aggressively embraced technology to augment the skills of their staff. All delivery and service vehicles use wireless computer systems to aid and expedite service, and internet technologies have been employed to provide true 24-hour service.

Innovation And Invention

Much of the Sippin Energy Products internet and risk management software technologies were actually developed by Gary Sippin in collaboration with a company that he co-founded called Destwin Energy Systems, whose offices are located in Sandy Hook.

This software is now provided to major energy marketers throughout North America and Canada. But as Gary Sippin has often said, “technology is only a tool used to augment the skills of real people,” and those people are the 60 dedicated and skilled employees that have honorably served the company for the last 100 years.

Challenged by new and expanding regulatory creep, Gary Sippin now serves as Chairman-elect of CEMA (Connecticut Energy Marketers Association), which fights every day to help small energy marketers provide clean affordable energy to Connecticut’s citizens.

In the family’s tradition of giving back to the community that supported them through their first century of business, Dave Sippin now serves as the President of the Boy Scouts Of America, Connecticut Yankee Council, which is an organization the Sippin family has supported for decades.

Sippin Energy and the Sippin family have also been ongoing supporters of veterans. “My father, having grown up in a Gold Star family, was always supportive of veterans and even donated the beautiful war memorial at the Monroe Town Hall” said Gary Sippin.

The Sippin’s have also been thankful to have been recognized over the years with many accolades, including the UConn Family Business Award, CEMA Energy Marketer Of The Year Award, Monroe Business Of The Year Award, and the National Better Business Bureau Torch Award For Ethics. Sippin Energy is also now the highest Google Review ranked energy company in Connecticut.

Today, Gary, Eric, and Mark Sippin all reside in Newtown, and Dave is a former resident. But even decades ago, the community played an important part in the growth of Sippin Energy, as Gary Sippin explains it.

“Across our 27-town primary service area, I believe our largest single municipal client base is still in Newtown,” he said. “Over the years, Sippin Energy grew as Newtown was growing, and our delivery and service vehicles are still a daily sight traveling through town and its neighborhoods.”

Learn more about the company or engage one of their services by visiting sippin.com.