Oil Prices

[Thurston Garden]

We had an oil Rayburn fitted in 2004. We love it and would not be without one. We chose oil because we were both commuting to Edinburgh at the time. Now I works from home I wonder if we made the right choice....

In 2004 oil was 16p a litre. This has risen steadily and when I bought oil in September it was 32p.

I got a shock today when I rang to order some - 45p!! I called another firm for a comparable - their price had just come down this morning, to only 39p.

At this price, it's going to work out at about £85 a month for oil which does heating, hot water and cooking. We pay £32 a month for leccy. (This is artificially high this year do to incubating 3 sets of eggs and having a heat lamp on since July...)

There's only 2 of us in an old estate lodge cottage, single glazed (listed, so there's nothing we can do about the glazing - the council won't let us), insulated as far as practicable. In the winter we shut off the living room and turn the radiator down and live in the kitchen/dining room. Only one of the 2 bedrooms has a radiator on. The heating is screwed back as much as we can too. No Tv, low energy light bulbs (we mostly use candles when settled for the night too).

How does this cost compare to others? I feel like it's costing us a fortune, but have nothing to compare it with.

[Shirley]

last time we ordered oil it was 39p per litre... I will be calling them today to ask their current price as we are already under half full. (ordered in August last time - we're having all kinds of problems with the heating though and it's using more than it should. That, and the fact that we've no other source of heat and that my teenaged son is ill and constantly cold has seen much higher than usual usage.

[Shirley]

check out boilerjuice.com to see whether they cover your area with pricing.

What is BoilerJuice?

BoilerJuice is an independent on-line service for users of central heating oil. BoilerJuice was formed by a family group who use oil for heating and decided to use web technology to bring oil users and suppliers together to get better prices.

With BoilerJuice you can:

* Instantly get the lowest price for central heating oil delivered to you from our suppliers in your local area;
* Buy your central heating oil online 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day, at your convenience;
* Join buying groups to benefit from further discounts;
* Quickly find other related services from reputable suppliers in your area (e.g. tank installers, service engineers, boiler suppliers, etc.);
* Benefit from BoilerJuice's ability to group your order with others from your postcode area to automatically gain volume discounts.

Why Use BoilerJuice?

There are 1.5 million homes in the UK using oil for central heating, with the vast majority buying oil as individuals and paying a higher price than necessary.

At BoilerJuice we believe in teamwork. With your help we can use our collective buying power to negotiate the lowest oil prices for all our members whilst reducing the number of oil tankers on our roads.

[Thurston Garden]

Thanks Shirley - I was relieved to see that boilerjuice was 45.75p for me but I got it this morning for 39p from Scottish Fuels - their price had come down by 1.5p at 8am this morning.

I will keep the ling though!

Ta.

[Thurston Garden]

Excellent link! Sent it on to some oil guzzling friends...

Thank you!

[Shirley]

Brogan fuels price (Huntly depot) 43.8p

[Thurston Garden]

Scottish fuels maybe don't deliver your way: 0845 300 88 44

[Shirley]

Cheers -

I've just found this site too - http://www.fueloildirect.co.uk/?g=1 and asked for a quote from those that are on the list that deliver out here.

Will let you know what I get back.

[Millymollymandy]

How does this cost compare to others? I feel like it's costing us a fortune, but have nothing to compare it with.

I probably spend loads more than your £85 a month on logs for the wood burner alone!!! Your bills are very low.

[red]

in my last village, the club together and order their oil all at once, which brings the price down.. could you look into that?

could you fit secondary glazing to reduce heat loss?

[Thurston Garden]

Red - the site Shirley posted works on a post code system. It worked out dearer than my quote on the phone, but they do regular weekend buys. Here, they seem to email you on a Friday with the base quote and you have the option to sign up to an order then. The more people who sign up to that quote in your area helps bring the cost down. Seems like a great idea, similar to what happened in your village. I have forwarded the site to the oil guzzlers nearby that I know.

I had the planning officer from the Council here a couple of years ago to discuss our windows. The house is C(S) Listed - equivalent of Grade 3 in Englandsecestershire - and the Cooncil would not let me touch them. Seems daft because although secondary glazing would be too dear atm the Cooncil are hampering us reducing our fuel consumption.

The heating is not on during the day (unless it's Siberian outside) and the curtains which are heavy and lined are shut when the heating comes on. Secondary glazing would help retain the heat in the mornings meaning we only needed to wear 2 coats inside during the day instead of three.....

[Stonehead]

I had the planning officer from the Council here a couple of years ago to discuss our windows. The house is C(S) Listed - equivalent of Grade 3 in Englandsecestershire - and the Cooncil would not let me touch them. Seems daft because although secondary glazing would be too dear atm the Cooncil are hampering us reducing our fuel consumption.[/quote]

We had a similar problem a few years back. We stuck self-adhesive sealing tape around the window frame, then screwed sheets of perspex onto the tape. Instant secondary glazing. When we had some works for the conservation officer to inspect, we just removed the perspex. Similarly in summer. It worked quite well.