AI answering service for propane and heating oil dealers

Knows a gas smell from a run-out.

  • Free
  • Your phone won’t ring
  • Takes about a minute
  • From $49 a month
  • Keep your number
  • Spam calls never billed
  • You set the spend limit

Hear it answer a call

Line drawing of a propane tank on its stands, with its gauge shown large and reading low
Text message · Sun 11:52 PM
New job: out of heating oilBill · (207) 555-0168
12 Pine Hill Rd
Out of heating oil and the house is freezing. Two kids at home.
Urgent

What is a propane answering service?

A propane answering service answers a fuel dealer’s calls at night, on weekends and all through the heating season. A good one treats a caller who smells gas as an emergency, gets a run-out to whoever is on call, and keeps deliveries, automatic-delivery sign-ups and billing for the office.

Hear it answer

One call, start to finish, in under a minute

A leaking water heater at night, taken the way it’s taken on a Wakeman line: what’s wrong, a safety check for water near electrics, the address read back, and — with booking on — a time in the on-call window. The example is a plumbing shop. On your line it answers as your business and asks about propane and heating oil work — it is set up for your trade and your own list of services.

Rather try it yourself? Call (503) 765-9727 and play the customer with an everyday job.

Wakeman, for Ridgeline PlumbingThanks for calling Ridgeline Plumbing. You're speaking with an AI assistant, and this call is recorded. What's going on?
CallerYeah, hi — there's water coming out from under my water heater. It's all over the garage floor.

Example call · synthesized voices, not a recorded caller

Propane and heating oil, in numbers

6.36 million US homes heat mainly with propane, and 4.13 million with heating oil.

Homes heated mainly by propane

6.36 million

Homes heated mainly by heating oil

4.13 million

Share of heating oil homes in the Northeast

82%

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Winter Fuels Outlook 2026–27, October 2026.

Where these numbers come from

The Energy Information Administration’s Winter Fuels Outlook for 2026–27, published on 6 October 2026, estimates how US homes are heated as of October 2026: 6,361,000 heat mainly with propane and 4,134,000 with heating oil. 3,388,000 of the heating oil homes are in the Northeast, which is 82%; the EIA’s page on heating oil gives the same share for the winter of 2023–24. The EIA says heating with propane is more common in the upper Midwest and the Northeast. Read on 21 October 2026.

Connecticut’s utility regulator tells anyone who smells propane indoors to call their propane company right away, from a phone away from the smell, and to leave the building first if the smell is strong. It says propane companies give 24-hour emergency service every day of the year.

Four calls at 2am

How Wakeman sorts propane and heating oil calls

Not all of them should wake you. A generic answering service takes four messages and sends four texts. Wakeman works out which call is which — and it goes by what is actually wrong, not by how upset the caller sounds.

Emergency

“I smell propane near the tank outside”

Tells them to leave the building, not to touch any light switches, and to call 9-1-1 from outside. Then Wakeman tries your on-call phone during the call.

Urgent

“We're out of heating oil and the house is freezing”

A run-out is marked urgent, and the message goes to your on-call phone as an urgent text. It doesn’t ring anyone during the call.

Routine

“Can I get on automatic delivery?”

Taken as an account request for the office.

Admin

“I have a question about my last invoice”

A message for the office. Billing questions never go to your on-call phone.

  • Rings your on-call phone: gas, carbon monoxide, a downed power line, fire or smoke, a medical emergency, a child or pet locked in a car, water near electrics, a structural collapse, major flooding and sewage inside.
  • How it knows: it listens for those words. A caller who describes it differently may be marked urgent instead.
  • Urgent calls (no heat, or a leak that can’t wait) get a text, not a ring. So does an on-call phone that is the same line you forward to Wakeman.
  • No on-call number set? It won’t tell the caller help is on the way.
  • It’s a safety net. It doesn’t replace 911.
AI receptionist

An AI receptionist for fuel delivery companies

Call it an answering service or a virtual receptionist — the job is the same. Wakeman is set up for propane and heating oil work and your own list of services. It asks what a good dispatcher would: what’s wrong, how bad it is, the address and a number to call back. It checks the address, then texts you the job, or books it into Jobber on Pro and Max once you switch booking on. It says it’s an AI at the start of every call. There’s no call center behind it: a caller who needs a person is put through to your own on-call phone.

The propane and heating oil jobs it starts with

  • Propane delivery
  • Heating oil delivery
  • Out of fuel
  • Tank swap
  • Account question

Setup fills these in for fuel delivery companies, and you can change them. It also suggests automatic delivery, tank installation and price per gallon. It treats work close to your list as work you do, and turns down anything on your “Jobs you don’t do” list plainly, taking a message.

Side by side

AI receptionists for fuel delivery companies, compared

Wakeman wrote this, and Wakeman is on the list. Each row comes from the company’s own pages, checked October 20, 2026.

PriceHow it billsWhen a caller needs a personBooks into
Goodcall$79 / $129 / $299 a monthUnique callers: 100 / 500 / 2,000, then 79¢ / 26¢ / 15¢ eachTransfers to the people you chooseCRM through Zapier
Jobber AI Receptionist
Price and fit reviewed 2026-11-06. Sources
Included with unlimited usage on Plus; $29/month for 30 conversations on eligible other plans, then $0.79 eachConversations: 30 or 100 included (its help pages differ); one says $0.79 each afterWhen it hears a trigger word you set, it transfers to your one escalation contact or texts youJobber, through Online Booking
Rosie
Price and fit reviewed 2026-11-06. Sources
Professional $49 (250 minutes); Scale $149 (1,000); Growth $299 (2,000)Minutes; moves you up a plan when you go overWarm and live transfers from the $149 plan; the $299 plan tries several numbersYour calendar, on Scale and up. Logs callers and calls in Jobber and Housecall Pro, without booking the job there; Zapier
Ruby (people, not AI)$250/mo (50 min) to $1,725 (500 min)Minutes; each call rounded up to 60 seconds, hold time countsA person answers every callNot named on its pricing page
Smith.ai
Price and fit reviewed 2026-11-06. Sources
Free: 25 calls/month; Pro from $150 for 75 calls; Enterprise from $500 for 300Per call; $2.10–$3.00 an extra callCan hand the call to a live receptionist, any hourLists Jobber (via Zapier), ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro
Wakeman (our entry)$49/mo (100 min); $149 (500); $399 (1,500), day and nightMinutes included; then $0.29–$0.45/min by plan, with a monthly limit you set. Spam is never billedPuts the caller through to your own people: your on-call phone, then the owner’s if nobody picks up. It does this on a dangerous call, a complaint or an angry caller, or when someone asks for a person twice. The AI answers every call; there’s no call centerJobber on Pro and Max, once you switch booking on
Where these facts come from · checked October 20, 2026

Checked October 20, 2026. Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page.

All 16 AI receptionists for contractors · What every answering service charges

Why propane and heating oil specifically

Fuel dealers get two kinds of night call, and they need opposite handling: a gas smell is an emergency, and a run-out is urgent but can wait for a driver in the morning. Treating both the same either wakes somebody for nothing or leaves a leak with a voicemail.

A fuel dealer’s night calls are a run-out in a cold house or a caller who smells propane. Wakeman answers the calls you miss, treats a gas smell as an emergency, and texts you urgently about a run-out.

Field notes for fuel delivery companies

All field notes
Free tools for fuel delivery companies

Questions about an AI answering service for propane and heating oil dealers

What does it say to a caller who smells gas?

It gives safety steps written in advance: leave the building right now, don’t touch any light switches, and call 9-1-1 from outside. Then Wakeman tries your on-call phone during the call. It is an AI speaking, so it may not say those words exactly, and we cannot promise the call to your phone gets through. It is a safety net, not an emergency service.

Is every run-out treated as urgent?

Yes. A caller who says they have run out of oil or propane, or that the tank is empty, is marked urgent, cold house or not, and so is any caller who mentions a baby, an older person or someone on oxygen at home. It goes to your on-call phone as an urgent text. A caller who is almost out, or wants a delivery before they run out, is written down for the office. Neither rings anyone during the call.

Can it take delivery orders and automatic-delivery sign-ups?

Yes. It writes each one down with the address and what the caller needs, for your office. With booking on, it offers a time from the list you set; it doesn’t see your delivery routes. It never quotes a price per gallon.

Does Wakeman have propane and heating oil-specific emergency rules?

It uses one set of safety rules in every trade, so nothing dangerous slips through a trade-specific gap: gas, carbon monoxide, a downed power line, fire or smoke, a medical emergency, a child or pet locked in a car, water near electrics, a structural collapse, major flooding and sewage inside. When a caller describes one, Wakeman gives safety steps written in advance and tries your on-call phone during the call. A caller with no heat, cooling or hot water, an empty oil or propane tank, a leak that can’t wait, a blocked drain, no power, a stuck garage door, a break-in or a door that won’t lock, or a lockout is marked urgent and texted to your on-call phone at once. So is a driver who needs a tow now, and any caller who mentions a baby, an older person or someone on oxygen at home. A slow drip, or a leak the caller says can wait, is written down as a routine job unless the water is spreading, doing damage or won’t stop. Everything else fuel delivery companies get asked about is written down as a job, using the list of jobs you give it in setup. It is an AI speaking, so it may not say those words exactly, and we cannot promise the call to your phone gets through. It is a safety net, not an emergency service.

How much does a propane and heating oil answering service cost?

Wakeman is $49, $149 or $399 a month with 100, 500 or 1,500 minutes included, then 45¢, 35¢ or 29¢ a minute by plan. There is no setup fee and no minimum term, spam calls are never billed, and you set a monthly spend limit. Human answering services work out at roughly $2.76–$5.00 per included minute on their published plans.

Is Wakeman an AI receptionist for fuel delivery companies or an answering service?

Both names describe the same job, and so does "AI CSR". Wakeman is an AI receptionist: it answers the calls your team misses in your company’s name, and says it is an AI at the start of every call. Like a propane and heating oil answering service or a virtual receptionist, it writes each job down; unlike a message-taking service, it tells an emergency from a routine call and alerts your on-call phone for the dangerous ones.

Somebody’s always awake.

Try it on your own phone tonight. About ten minutes, and $0 today.

We look it up on Google. Then you’ll hear how Wakeman would answer your calls.

  • Free
  • Your phone won’t ring
  • Takes about a minute
Hear it answer