Heating oil businesses are thriving this winter as persistent bitter cold conditions linger above Connecticut.

The co-owner of Elite Energy in Litchfield County, Brian Wadman, tells News 12 that demand is so high some providers have been sending him customers they can't get to as customers burn through fuel at a higher rate.

On some days he makes deliveries throughout the night to people at risk of running out, he says. Other nights, he says, he gives away fuel to people who have posted pictures on Facebook of their gauges running low.

"We are trying to help people not with the most money, but the people that do not have oil," Wadman says. "Because we don't want people's houses to freeze."