The Oil Club is all about saving money on our domestic heating oil by grouping orders from our neighbours and getting a competitive bulk-buy quote from local suppliers.
Together we can make some significant savings.
14th Anniversary of the Oil Club
We are now 90 members, so here are a few notes for the benefit of several newcomers.
Each customer’s tank needs to be accessible to the tanker driver and unlocked. Deliveries are usually announced as “week commencing” so if you need to be away, please leave a note for the driver, or let a neighbour know, or myself.
The minimum delivery is for 500 litres. The driver will always leave a delivery note, which usually indicates how payment can be made.
We always ask our members to pay as soon as possible, as it earns us a reputation as good payers and therefore likely to attract better prices.
We usually order 9 or 10 deliveries per year. More often in the winter than the summer.
We usually ask 5 or 6 suppliers to quote for our business and we have three regular suppliers, Sweetfuels, Red Horse Vale and Compass, who are all very reliable. Nevertheless, should anyone have any misgivings or complaints about any company or individual then please let it be known.
Likewise, if anyone finds a better price or hears of a new supplier, please say so.
Members will usually be notified 2 to 3 weeks in advance of a delivery and the successful supplier and prices about 5 days before the “week commencing date”.
A guesstimate is that we usually save between 3 and 4 ppl (pence per litre) buying as a group. A further plus is that we can achieve a 1,000 litre price whilst only having to order a minimum of 500 litres, which has the advantage of giving us, individually, more flexibility – i.e. only buying 500 litres in Jan/Feb might allow a “fill up” in mid-summer at summer prices which are usually lower.
Becoming a member and donating
Arranging the quotes and deliveries is organiser Alec Jones. It is run on a voluntary basis. There are no membership fees, only savings. By way of thanks to Alec, members have been regularly donating to St Mary’s fabric fund. Please check our “Rules & Regs” in this post!
I expect the average household saves between £100 and £150 per annum, through “group buying” and some who join our group from one of the contractual deals “we’ll top you up when we’re passing” can save as much as £500/annum!
PUNCH LINE. If you are happy that you’ve made a saving through the group, please donate to our church’s Fabric Fund:
St Mary’s Black Bourton PCC
Sort Code: 40-47-07
Account Number: 11680188.
This plea for donations will only be mentioned in January of each year, but feel free to donate at any time. No obligation whatsoever, but £5.00 would be good, £10.00 better, £20.00 even better. All donations to be used in the maintenance of our Grade 1 listed beautiful building.
If you’re interested in becoming a member and making great savings, then use the contact form to contact Alec, quoting ‘Oil’ in ‘Your Subject’ line.
Consider a larger tank
Several members say they regret not having installed a bigger tank and asked for advice!
A price guide for fully bunded plastic tanks is : £1,000 for 1,000 ltrs, £1,250 for 1,800ltrs, £1,500 for 2,500 ltrs and £3,300 for 5,000 litres. Steel tanks can be much cheaper. There is also a good market for second hand tanks.
Sweetfuels (one of our oil suppliers) website gives a helpful guide.
Purchase and installation costs vary depending on whether your would install a new tank inside an existing building or need to build groundwork for an outdoor tank.
Having a higher storage capacity, gives two main advantages :
- You only need to buy oil once a year and that should be in mid-summer when the price is usually at its annual low.
- In case of a big price drop savings can be made which can make the investment in new storage viable.
One or two of our members have opted to install larger tanks, which will allow them to order only once a year at summer prices! One such, in their first year made a saving of £882.00 having paid £1,955 installed, for a 2,500 litre bunded tank. A good return on investment. The average saving made by investing in a 2,500 litre tank might be about £200. A much better investment than having £2,000 in the bank – if it hasn’t closed down (approx 10% ROI)!