New Year, New Faces for the CCB Oil Club

In Spring 2012 CCB launched an Oil Buying Club for residents in Berkshire that heat their homes, community buildings or business with heating oil. The CCB Oil Club takes on the organisation of bulk buying fuel oil and negotiates a great price, reducing the cost for members and the time spent on sourcing oil.

Since the club was launched we have helped 250 members reduce their heating costs. In total we have helped them save over £28,000 against the cost of average oil buying*. This means that since launching the club we have saved our members on average £112 per household.

*Calculated by conducting a secret shopper survey with suppliers on buying 500 and 1000 litres on the day we complete our negotiations.

In January 2014 CCB says a temporary farewell to Gemma Pearce, who has acted as the oil club co-ordinator, as she will be taking maternity leave to have her second child. We have also decided that from January 2014 we will pass the administration of the oil club to Oil Fuel Poverty Solutions (OFPS). OFPS are a social enterprise organisation formed by Community Buying unLtd, who conduct the negotiation on behalf of our members. Marion Lathar from OFPS explains: “OIL Fuel Poverty Solutions, OFPS, was created to work with Rural Community Councils like CCB and Other Charities to manage, support and create OIL buying groups.  Our raison d'etre is to reduce the fuel poverty suffered by off-gas communities.”

The oil ordering process will remain the same with monthly ordering deadlines and members placing orders through our online order forms, or over the phone if they do not have access to the internet/e-mail. Any enquiries relating to new members, orders or questions will now be handled by Marion at OFPS. She can be contacted on 01993 225011 or by e-mailing marion@ofps.org.uk

To have a look at the prices the CCB Oil Club was able to obtain oil for in 2013 please view the table below. Further details on how the club is run can be found here: http://www.ccberks.org.uk/oilbuying-collective

Month (delivered in)	Member’s Price	Average Price
January 2013	£0.579	£0.62
February 2013	£0.61	£0.66
March 2013	£0.6185	£0.6729
April 2013	£0.5895 - £0.6395	£0.6844
May 2013	£0.5195 - £0.5495	£0.60
June 2013	£0.5395	£0.5903
July 2013	£0.539	£0.579
August 2013	£0.5675	£0.6093
September 2013	£0.5774	£0.6264
October 2013	£0.5395	£0.595
November 2013	£0.538	£0.6234
December 2013	£0.547	£0.6014

All prices exclusive of 5% VAT