Creating a community oil buying club is a very simple process – just three steps:
1: Establish that you have enough potential members in your area to make the club viable.
A club can start with as few as 20 members as long as everyone works together. Ideally the new club should have the capacity to grow to 100+ members. In rural areas it’s typically a collection of 3 or 4 villages as long as there is good support.
The rising cost of energy bills has been a controversial and well documented cause of concern – sparking debate at the highest level.
Nowhere is this truer than in rural areas – especially if communities have to rely on often expensive heating oil to warm their homes because they are not connected to the main grid.
For several years in the village of Sedgeberrow we have sought to improve our environment credentials through the Sedgeberrow Sustainable and Manageable Energy Group (SeSaME). The group has initiated a number of ideas to improve energy efficiency and lower costs for households in the area. Part of this was an oil buying club which we established in 2011. Running the club involved quite a lot of paperwork and so we restricted membership to the village. However, it was always clear that the oil club produced real benefits for the villagers who were members; lower prices, less hassle with orders and the knowledge that fewer tankers were using our local roads.
A warm welcome to Mike Parker and the members of SeSaME Oil Buying Club – www.sesame.oilbuyingclub.com .
Based in Sedgeberrow, the club covers an area to the south west of Evesham in Worcestershire. We first met Mike when we presented at a meeting of Parish Councillors within the Wychavon District Council area. A meeting followed on from that which led us to launching the club on the Oil Buying Club System.
Located to the Vale of Evesham the Pebworth Oil Buying Club is one of the longest running clubs in the country. Run by Ken Wood it’s based in the beautiful village of Pebworth, between Evesham and Stratford on Avon.
With a membership approaching 200 the club will order nearly 300,000 litres of heating oil for it’s members this year. Everyone will benefit from the substantial savings made through group purchasing. It’s not just about price, Ken has worked hard with his suppliers to ensure the service members receive is second to none. Ken enjoys a strong relationship with all the local oil depots and has worked with a number of the depot managers for several years.
Our reasons for starting the Oil Buying Club were simple; we wanted to help people lower the cost of heating oil and we wanted to support the dozens of Club Managers across the UK who ran community oil buying groups without the support of modern systems to help manage the admin.
I have been an oil user for several decades. Before the days of the internet I used to phone round suppliers whenever I needed a delivery, the price could vary significantly so it was always worth the time and hassle. Along came the internet and the rise of the on-line oil sites. Although they were easier to use I still found that some work on the phones often resulted in a better price.