Cheaper Oil for Fuel?

LittleVermin

toastywarm wrote: »

Has anyone heard of Community Energy Plus, a charity in Cornwall that has started an oil buying club?

Tonight is their second group order - for the first they claimed 159 members, now they claim 411.

Their first order went to Butler Fuels, itself very recently bought by DCC, now the largest fuel heating fuel distributor in the UK after several take-overs. DCC was also the owner of BoilerJuice, whose lack of transparency was criticised by the Office of Fair Trading in September - see here. (DCC has now sold BoilerJuice back to its founder). (DCC also owns Flogas, which comes in for much criticism on the Bulk LPG ... thread).

But Community Energy Plus seems to be getting a useful discount - see http://www.communityenergyclub.org.uk/oil/recent-orders/ and my caution about Butler Fuels under its new owners is NOT a criticism of Community Energy Club!

Maybe someone has used Community Energy Plus and can give feedback? It looks good - e.g. you can drop out if you don't like the price offered.

Maybe they'll set up a LPG-buying group if the oil group goes well?

Going2getanotherAga

Just had to order 1200 litres from a company 70 miles away in Lancashire at 58.65p litre.
Quotes in Carlisle & Penrith area are averaging 67p a litre. Completely Ridiculous!.
Definitely switching back to a solid fuel Aga as soon as i got the money.

frogbottler

Try Broadland Fuels (01493 748888). I've never used them before & only rang them to get an independent non-cartel price. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find an independent supplier in Norfolk (Goff/CPs are the same company and EMO/SCF/CPL/BlackCat/TotalButler are the same company).

I fully expected Broadland to be the most expensive but they were 2p cheaper than anyone else. I paid 57.64p for 500 litres delivered as arranged last Thursday (24th) No charge for using a card, I was also given the option of paying the driver on delivery by cheque or cash. Hope this helps.

Interestingly both Goff & SCF rang me later in the day to ask if I'd ordered the oil. Is this a new trend? Whilst happy to continue the game of undercutting each other by fractions of a penny neither of them would match Broadland's price.

herbie999 wrote: »

Anyone bought any home heating oil lately? Just wondered what sort of price I will have to pay. We live in a big old house in Norfolk & usually top up with 2000 litres at a time.

bobmedley

Going2getanotherAga wrote: »

Just had to order 1200 litres from a company 70 miles away in Lancashire at 58.65p litre.
Quotes in Carlisle & Penrith area are averaging 67p a litre. Completely Ridiculous!.
Definitely switching back to a solid fuel Aga as soon as i got the money.

Coal is about the same price as oil, smokeless fuel is actually more expensive so with the capital outlay the economics don't look good:(

herbie999

Ordered 2000 litres from Goffs at 57.30p last week. Payment by cheque. I'll try Broadland Fuel next time. Thanks for the info.

boo2410

I too used Broadland about 6 weeks ago when I filled up (I'm in Norfolk) rang around a few places and fully expected them to be the most expensive and they were cheapest. Got 1000 litres for about £573 if I remember rightly. And they delivered quickly too. Just got to hope this lasts through now, though we have a woodburner so should be ok and the place is well insulated.

LittleVermin

LittleVermin wrote: »

Tonight is their second group order - for the first they claimed 159 members, now they claim 411.

Update from http://www.communityenergyclub.org.uk/oil/recent-orders/ (from Community Energy Plus / Community Energy Club )

Quote:
Tuesday 29th November 2011

We are pleased to advise our members that we have secured the price of 58.4p per litre with two local suppliers:

- Opie Oils for orders in West Cornwall (01209 215164).
- Heltor Fuels for orders in Mid and East Cornwall and (01726 72895).

Ten local suppliers were invited to bid for this order yesterday. Price negotiations with four suppliers continued through to this morning, with two suppliers being awarded the orders for separate geographical areas for this month’s order.

**

Followers of this thread will be happy that the two suppliers this time (for 166 orders) are independents. The previous purchase went to Butler Fuels - which was taken over in the summer by DCC. DCC's stated policy is to grow by acquisition and most of the acquired companies keep their original names. Here * is a post from last January with a list of DCC-owned heating oil companies, and there's also a more recent blog post about DCC take-overs. The OFT off-grid energy report said that users had a choice of at least 4 suppliers - but some have expressed doubt that these were independent of each other.

*you may wish to add your thanks to ukoilman's post about the DCC subsidiaries!

..

bernithebiker

It's an excellent idea, which I wholeheartedly support, but the savings seem surprisingly small.

I make 9£ on 500 litres a 3% saving, not enormous.

By contrast, a major French supplier provides these rates;

250 - 499 litres

1.011 Euros TTC par litre
500 - 999 litres 0,924 Euros TTC par litre
1000 - 1999 litres 0,899 Euros TTC par litre
2000 - 2999 litres 0,892 Euros TTC par litre
3000 - 4999 litres 0,884 Euros TTC par litre
5000 - 10 000 litres 0,877 Euros TTC par litre
de 10 000 A 25 000 litres 0,869 Euros TTC par litre

The savings from 500 litres to 10 000, are 6%, i.e. double. Although this is for 10 000 delivered to one place, (or several very close to each other).

Also of note is how much higher our prices our. It is mainly down to the VAT which is 19.6%.

LittleVermin

bernithebiker wrote: »

It's an excellent idea, which I wholeheartedly support, but the savings seem surprisingly small.

I make 9£ on 500 litres a 3% saving, not enormous.

<snip>

The savings from 500 litres to 10 000, are 6%, i.e. double. Although this is for 10 000 delivered to one place, (or several very close to each other). <snip>

Yes, I didn't think it was a big discount. But when you realise that the two suppliers need to make 166 separate deliveries across Cornwall - and Cornwall is very long and thin, with a scattered, low population, so that involves lots of driving. And most of the lanes are narrow so that means small tankers can only be used. Maybe if Community Energy Club gets appreciably more people on board the discount will rise significantly? I hope so!

I wonder what discount other oil-buying groups achieve?

..

G_M

Maybe what's needed is a sticky that can be updated to show all the oil-buying groups around the country so newbies (and oldies) can find groups local to themselves (with/without feedback/savings reports)?