The Oil Buying Club is operated by Otmoor Ltd on behalf of community buying groups across the UK.
We started the Oil Buying Club in late 2014, our first club was just outside of Stratford on Avon.
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.
Our objective is to use the technology we provide clubs to help them reduce the cost of heating oil for club members. We lower the cost of oil by improving the efficiency of the supply chain. In particular we reduce vehicle distances, increase average delivery sizes and improve administrative efficiency.
Oil distribution companies are integral part of the system and we aim to generate savings for them that they can share with club members.
It’s a partnership between community clubs and their suppliers; at the Oil Buying Club we aim to make the partnership as beneficial as possible.
The concept of Oil Buying Clubs has been highlighted by a number of leading consumer organisations, Citizens Advice and Money Saving Expert both explain the benefits of the club approach.
The system is secure; we don’t carry and credit card information and personal details are securely stored. The system is hosted in the ‘cloud’ which ensures 24 X 7 availability, uptime is over 99.9%. Every update, and there have been several, is accompanied by thorough user guides. The system is compatible with PC’s, tablets and smartphones. For members placing an order takes just a few seconds on a smartphone; we recommend that club administrators and suppliers use a PC.
Above all else we want to make the system as easy to use as possible.
We are a small (ish) team but we pride ourselves on the support we provide to the clubs and suppliers who use the system. Gerry and looks after clubs and suppliers whilst Kevin covers the technical issues. Between us we offer full support for users. We take feedback seriously and all updates and changes in the system begin life as a feedback from users.
If you run an existing club or want to start one in your area then get in touch. Use the contact form on the right of this page. Rural communities work well together, we aim to make it easy and rewarding.
Gerry and Kevin