Martin Lewis: Heating oil & LPG price hikes – are firms playing fair? We need your feedback…

CasSkelt

The same has just happened to me with Goff Petroleum, I ordered on 26th Feb for delivery 12th March, and I have received the no delivery email and an offer to re buy at the current prices. Surely we can challenge their decision somehow?

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917208#Comment_81917208

I would be very tempted to ask for the refund. Why leave them with your cash for an undefined period of time when it could be earning a small amount of interest in your own bank?

And there is always the remote possibility that they go belly up whilst in possession of your £316, which could lead to problems getting it back.

Mickyblueeyes69

I last bought heating oil at £580 per 1000 Ltrs went on Boilerjuice supposed to locate 200 suppliers now the price is a gut wrenching £1610 for a 1000 ltrs we are being quoted nearly triple the last price I have contacted most of our local suppliers and they are all charging similar How can this be fair when petrol prices are only a few pence higher. The home heating oil user seems to have been a free hit for suppliers with no help from the Government i will rather a cold day in hell before i give the suppliers that kind of money but i have grandkids living with us so i am hoping this drops soon as i have about two weeks supply left and this war is not going to be over as quick as Trump thinks it will be.

YorkieDriver

I’m in a local oil cooperative that orders every 2nd month, I had a request for oil in the March order. No supplier would quote so the group order was cancelled.
Tried to limp along using hot water only but I’m pretty low on oil and have had to bite the bullet and place an order for myself. Delivery is due this Friday - don’t yet know the price but if the delivery had been the day I ordered I was looking at a 50% price increase on my previous order, and seeing some of the prices bandied about I feel ‘fortunate’!
Not sure where the blame lies - distributor or wholesaler but we need some regulation for the heating oil market as these sort of increases are scandalous.

JohnD49

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81916710#Comment_81916710

Heat pumps simply don’t work for most properties that use heating oil (old, poorly insulated with solid walls, and often detached and in remote exposed locations). To bring insulation to the necessary standard for a heat pump to provide acceptable comfort levels involves tens of thousands of pounds expenditure and significant disruption and redecoration time/costs. Not many owners can afford/ want to undertake that.

sunnyflower

Luckily our oil supplier honoured our order for 600l which was made just before the hike ( it's a local company so guessing that they have some integrity when it comes to their regular customers). However,out of interest I got an estimate from Boiler Juice, it was between £800 & £950 depending on how urgently you wanted it.

Sickening.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917911#Comment_81917911

That is a fundamental misunderstanding of how heat pumps work and is part of the misinformation spread by certain elements of the media.

A heat pump produces heat, the same as an oil boiler. It produces that heat considerably cheaper per kWh than an oil boiler. If the home is poorly insulated that causes heat loss regardless of heat source.

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918113#Comment_81918113

100% agree that it is a misunderstanding and that a correctly sized air source heat pump can replace an oil boiler. Our sailing club actually has a 35kWh ground source heat pump supporting a very large exposed club house high in the Yorkshire Dales with restaurant, training rooms, changing rooms, 12 showers, etc.

But aside from the crazy price of oil right now, I'm not so sure that I agree with your comment about ASHP producing heat considerably cheaper than oil.

When oil was around £0.60 per litre, a litre of kerosene in a reasonably efficient oil boiler should produce 1kWh of heat for circa £0.065. (Assuming 90% boiler efficiency).

Is it reasonable to assume a well setup ASHP should operate at a 4:1 conversion rate?

If so, then with SVT at say £0.26 an ASHP will produce 1kWh heat for the same £0.065.

Granted, with the current nonsense on oil prices, the balance tips strongly in favour of the ASHP, but I suspect the current oil price blip is abnormal and normal services will be resumed sometime soon.

I also acknowledge that by using one of the TOU electricity tariffs and/or combining with solar/battery storage, the cost of running an ASHP can be reduced further. But solar/battery storage involves additional capital cost.

When we looked at replacing our old oil boiler with an ASHP a few years ago, it would have required a three phase upgrade to the power supply and twin ASHPs to cope with the demand. On a pure cost basis I couldn't make the case for ASHP and at that time the grant available was close to £13000.

Am I oversimplifying the case?

Sherlock2020

Hello
My story is as follows:

Bell Fuels Colchester, Essex
I ordered fuel 26th February ago at 64.35p per ltr including tax - Based on a delivery within 10 days.  The company specify on their website that 'We will not take the money from your account until we have confirmed the delivery slot' - The money was immediately taken from my bank account.

Had 2 texts on Thursday (5th March) evening at 5.03pm and 5:09pm - the first to say my delivery would be Friday (6th March) in the morning - The second to confirm it would be delivered between 7am - 8am.

No fuel arrived by 4pm on Friday so I started chasing - Answering Machine 'This machine is full, no more messages can be taken'

They finally replied by text saying, in summary -
You have a choice of two options:
1. Full refund of the funds you have paid -
2. Recalculate the amount paid at the new oil price, which will result in a reduced number of delivery litres - Let us know which you choose

Although they did not specify the new price in their text - their website at that time was 136.5p per litre (including tax) - an increase of over 112%

They clearly had the supply of oil, as I had been promised a delivery 14 hours earlier.  It feels like they were using underhand tactics to extort more money from me.

I objected strongly, however they remained belligerent and they finally gave me no choice. Saying 'we are paying your money back'. They did not deliver any oil, and they paid my money back 9th March.

I would like to know if I have any recourse on this matter.

I do know am not the only person in this position, it seems so underhand.

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918513#Comment_81918513

It would probably be better to set up a webpage to nominate suppliers who haven't jacked up their prices significantly. Trouble is, I don't think there will be many entries !!!!!