LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen voted to lock in with C.N. Brown at $2.235 a gallon for No. 2 fuel oil to heat town buildings and the library and sewer treatment plant on Wednesday.

The board reviewed bids provided through Maine PowerOptions of markup-over-wholesale cost and a flat rate from two companies that bid on Livermore Falls’ 17,000 gallons of fuel oil.

The PowerOptions consortium had more than 190 fuel companies bid on about 2.3 million gallons of fuel to serve more than 150 nonprofit organizations such as schools and municipalities, Town Manager Martin Puckett said.

The bids from C.N. Brown and Webber Energy-Augusta, the only two to bid on Livermore Falls’ oil request, arrived at 4 p.m. Wednesday, he said. The bids are only good for 24 hours and a decision needed to be made.

C.N. Brown bid 17 cents-per-gallon markup over wholesale and $2.235 per gallon on a guaranteed price.

Webber bid $.1431 cents markup over wholesale and $2.513 per gallon for a guaranteed price.

The contract would run from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

The town is locked in now with C.N. Brown at $2.02 per gallon of No. 2 fuel oil until July 1, Puckett said.

He said he estimated high at 10,500 gallons on the amount of oil needed to heat the town office/police station, fire station and highway garage.

The library and sewer treatment plant fuel bills are budgeted and paid out of separate accounts.

If the board decided not to accept the offers, it could have gone out to bid again.

Either way, it’s a chance, selectman’s Chairwoman Julie Deschesne said.

She favored going out to bid locally.

But after discussion, the vote was unanimous to go with C.N. Brown, with Selectman Bill Demaray absent.