In 2012 an oil consortium was set up in Welford in order to try to reduce the cost of the puchase of heating oil by buying in bulk. The cheapest supplier is chosen each month and the deliveries all happen on the same day. The idea is that the Oil Companies also save money by making several deliveries in the same day in the same area.

The co-ordinator and contact person is:

Mike Banning-Lover on 01789 750480

or Email on welfordoilgroup@gmail.com

* Any resident of Welford and district can join – currently we have about 80 members.

* On average, we save between 3p and 4.5p per litre by buying in bulk.
* I approach up to 10 suppliers for their best price at the time, also getting a comparison price for a standard 500 litre delivery.
* About once a month I email everyone on the list asking if they would like to order, and giving a deadline for reply; the morning after the deadline I approach all the suppliers and place the group order with those quoting the lowest price. So far we have used 6 different suppliers (the lowest quote on the day), with orders ranging from about 8,000 litres up to 15,000 litres.
* If you wish to order, please do not wait until your supply is desperately low.
* Please respect the order deadline, as oil prices change from day to day.

WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED IF YOU WISH TO JOIN?

1. Your name and full address including postcode – the driver needs this for his SATNAV
2. Email address and telephone number – so that the supplier can contact you if there is a problem
3. Details of any difficulties in accessing your oil-tank (lock, inside garage, behind gates, down a narrow lane etc)

After I have placed the order, I then email those members who have ordered advising them of the price per litre, the supplier selected and their phone number, the probable delivery date, and the method of payment. Some suppliers are happy to deliver first and invoice afterwards; some require card payment first if they are delivering to a new customer. Credit card payments incur a small charge, but debit card payments do not.

One or two people have asked if I will ring them first with a price, but unfortunately this is not practicable as I do not have time to do this.