Oil Buying Co-operatives

The price of oil is now becoming a real issue for those rural communities who have no access to mains gas and rely on this fuel as their main form of heating.

One of the easiest solutions to this issue, is the forming in rural communities of oil buying co-operatives. The process is very simple, but needs a dedicated co-ordinator to organise.

In principle the Co-ordinator needs to recruit as many households who use oil for their heating as possible. There is no critical mass, but the more the better. Once every two months, or at an agreed interval, the community based co-ordinator askes his members how much oil they wish to purchase. Members can order as often or as seldom as they wish. The co-odintaor then needs to negotiate the best price for this delivery with the local suppliers. He then informs his members of the price and the delivery date. Members are invoiced drirectly by the oil supplier, so the co-ordinator is not responsible for any cash transactions.

The savings are not just monetory, but also help to mitigate climate change, as this method of purchase ensures less tanker journeys because of the bulk buying of oil and the organised deliveries to one community.

Some smaller villages have clubbed together to form an Oil Buying Syndicate, within a geographic area, with the potential to order a larger quantitiy, thus providing greater savings.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the process can contact the Project Officer, Peter Hirschfeld on 01430 434047 or email peter.hirschfeld@hwrcc.org.uk, who will be willing to talk you through the process. There is also some more information available to download below.