Oil that can be paid monthly?

kmb500

Hi, I need to buy oil as my tank is almost empty. This is my first time buying oil. I am struggling to find suppliers that let you pay by direct debit. They all seem to require a card payment of the full thing. The ones that have "Pay monthly" options are not pay monthly, they all seem to be just "load money each month onto your account and then buy a delivery once youve built up enough". They aren't credit.

Does anyone know any suppliers with this payment option? 500 litres is £500, and I dont have £250 that I can spend (i got 1 housemate).

QrizB

I guess you haven't been putting money aside in an oil fund since you moved in?

Do you qualify for a 0% credit card?

dunstonh

 I am struggling to find suppliers that let you pay by direct debit. 

That is because it's not the way it is done with oil.  

Does anyone know any suppliers with this payment option? 500 litres is £500, and I dont have £250 that I can spend (i got 1 housemate).

You put money aside each month into your budget account (or whatever you call your account you use for bills).   Then it is there for when you need it.

It isn't dissimilar to how you buy electricity with suppliers, except instead of the direct debit going to them each month, it stays with you in your budget account and builds up until you need it.

As you are new to oil, around ~85% of your use will be between October and March.     We use 3000 litres a year and fill up with 1000 litres in November, January and March.    The amount of oil you use will be different to us but your usage pattern will be similar.    So, you need to be prepared for further top ups.

Do you have an oil monitor on your tank (such as an apollo with a 1-10 scale)?  Or do you use a cane?

Ebe_Scrooge

Yes, as per the previous comments, oil needs to be paid for upfront.  Most suppliers offer a direct debit scheme whereby you build up a credit with them then use that to pay for oil when you need it.  This is usually a bad idea anyway, since you're then tied to that supplier.  Much better to put money aside each month into your own savings account, then shop around each time you need to order - the cheapest supplier one time will very often not be the cheapest the next time.

As a previous poster mentioned, a credit card (ideally 0% purchases) would be one option in the short term, but really you need to be saving up beforehand.

I'm not aware of any oil companies that offer credit facilities.  I guess buying oil is analogous to buying your weekly shop from Tesco - you pay for the goods at the time of purchase, if you don't have the money available then you can't take possession of the goods (think of the old cliche where the shopping gets scanned through the till, the customer doesn't have enough money, so has to put a few items back on the shelf).

Roxburgh_rose

I second all that's been said above.

As you're new to oil you may not have come across local oil clubs. One of our suppliers (Johnston Oil in the Scottish Borders) runs one. You sign up and once a month they email with a member's price that's available for orders placed within a week or fortnight. There's no obligation to buy nor obligation to stick with that supplier. I always check other prices out of habit but over the last 3 years the oil club price has always been cheaper than via any other supplier.

kmb500

QrizB said:

I guess you haven't been putting money aside in an oil fund since you moved in?

Do you qualify for a 0% credit card?

No I haven't put any money aside. I was intending to put £100 per month aside for oil but I've not managed to save anything yet (but my spending each month is going down).

I was wondering about a 0% credit card, I got one a couple years ago to buy a car and found it useful. It seems crazy to me to take out a credit card in order to pay my energy bill. 

dunstonh said:

 I am struggling to find suppliers that let you pay by direct debit. 

That is because it's not the way it is done with oil.  

Does anyone know any suppliers with this payment option? 500 litres is £500, and I dont have £250 that I can spend (i got 1 housemate).

You put money aside each month into your budget account (or whatever you call your account you use for bills).   Then it is there for when you need it.

It isn't dissimilar to how you buy electricity with suppliers, except instead of the direct debit going to them each month, it stays with you in your budget account and builds up until you need it.

As you are new to oil, around ~85% of your use will be between October and March.     We use 3000 litres a year and fill up with 1000 litres in November, January and March.    The amount of oil you use will be different to us but your usage pattern will be similar.    So, you need to be prepared for further top ups.

Do you have an oil monitor on your tank (such as an apollo with a 1-10 scale)?  Or do you use a cane?

I understand that you have to buy the oil at once and it doesnt change by month. What I mean is that I assumed I'd be able to pay with Klarna, clearpay, paypal credit, or even some other interest based credit. Pretty much any other product that costs £500 you can pay for it over 3 months or 4 months etc. so I had assumed there would be a few oil sellers that would offer this.

We have a "watchman" in the house but its broken and doesnt show anything. I wasn't intending to pay for a new one. Should my landlord be liable for fixing/replacing that?Ebe_Scrooge said:

Yes, as per the previous comments, oil needs to be paid for upfront.  Most suppliers offer a direct debit scheme whereby you build up a credit with them then use that to pay for oil when you need it.  This is usually a bad idea anyway, since you're then tied to that supplier.  Much better to put money aside each month into your own savings account, then shop around each time you need to order - the cheapest supplier one time will very often not be the cheapest the next time.

As a previous poster mentioned, a credit card (ideally 0% purchases) would be one option in the short term, but really you need to be saving up beforehand.

I'm not aware of any oil companies that offer credit facilities.  I guess buying oil is analogous to buying your weekly shop from Tesco - you pay for the goods at the time of purchase, if you don't have the money available then you can't take possession of the goods (think of the old cliche where the shopping gets scanned through the till, the customer doesn't have enough money, so has to put a few items back on the shelf).

Yeah exactly I dont see the point of paying monthly towards a fund with a company when you're not getting any services from them.


If there are no oil suppliers that offer credit on purchases then I guess I dont really have any choice other than taking out a credit card. I didn't want to do that as I already am paying off two credit cards, although I guess I could use a 0% credit card to pay those off as well (£400 and £200 respectively) 

QrizB

kmb500 said:

If there are no oil suppliers that offer credit on purchases then I guess I dont really have any choice other than taking out a credit card. I didn't want to do that as I already am paying off two credit cards, although I guess I could use a 0% credit card to pay those off as well (£400 and £200 respectively) 

If you do go down the 0% credit card route, get a firm commitment from your housemate that you'll both pay (say) £50 a month to pay off the card, plus put another £50 a month into a fund towards buying your next 500 litres. You're likely to need another top-up before the spring (and possibly a third, depending on your property).

kmb500

QrizB said:

kmb500 said:

If there are no oil suppliers that offer credit on purchases then I guess I dont really have any choice other than taking out a credit card. I didn't want to do that as I already am paying off two credit cards, although I guess I could use a 0% credit card to pay those off as well (£400 and £200 respectively) 

If you do go down the 0% credit card route, get a firm commitment from your housemate that you'll both pay (say) £50 a month to pay off the card, plus put another £50 a month into a fund towards buying your next 500 litres. You're likely to need another top-up before the spring (and possibly a third, depending on your property).

Thanks. The credit card would only be for myself; my housemate can afford to pay his share of the order right now, it's just me that can't. 

I will start putting money aside each month for the next order.

strawb_shortcake

If it helps Certas oil if they deliver to your area are offering £40 off for new customers 

Ebe_Scrooge

We have a "watchman" in the house but its broken and doesnt show anything. I wasn't intending to pay for a new one. Should my landlord be liable for fixing/replacing that?

It could be that it just needs some new batteries in the sender unit - easy enough to remove the end cap from the "power tube" and put some new ones in, no need to buy another "power tube" (I think that's what they call it).

But to be honest, I find it just as easy to use a garden cane.  You can take off the filling cap and visually gauge how much is in there up until it's about a quarter, one-third full, something like that.  When it runs a bit lower, just dip it with a garden cane - you'll easily be able to see how much is left in there (you can even go really fancy and make some notches in the cane to indicate "tenths of a tank full" if you really want to).  That'll be just as accurate as a Watchman.  You'll quickly get used to estimating how long the remaining oil will last - for instance, 4 inches of depth may last you a month in summer and a week in winter, depending on your usage patterns obviously.  But you'll at least know how low you're getting and when you need to order.