Domestic heating oil

[Bminusrob]

Like many people living in the sticks, I heat my home with oil fired central heating. Usually, I buy oil using Boilerjuice, although I will call other suppliers to check their prices, as they can sometimes give better value than Boilerjuice.

However, today, I went on the Boilerjuice website and got a quote. The price quoted was 65.36p per litre, and to this you have to add 5% VAT. However, this time (I have never noticed it in the past), they also added on a service charge of £12 (irrespective of the number of litres to be ordered), so if I want to order 500 litres, the price per litre is effectively 2.4p per litre more than they are quoting. I will be factoring this in when I call round suppliers tomorrow, but for anyone buying oil from Boilerjuice, look out for the hidden extra cost.

[International]

Yes, I've stopped with BoilerJuice for the same reason. I still get a quote there, but it has been bettered the last couple of times.

I used NWF Fuels recently. There was a £30 off 1st order offer with the code PRDISC30. The oil came on time.

[scrumpyjack]

I used Boilerjuice for many years, then the admin charge came in and then I found YourNrg usually cheaper and with no admin charge.

Now I always check both of them.

[Mike4]

I used Boilerjuice for many years, then the admin charge came in and then I found YourNrg usually cheaper and with no admin charge.

Now I always check both of them.

Whichever way you cut it, they all need to charge similar money to cover their costs and make a wafer-thin profit.

I started using Boiler Juice a couple of years ago as they were about a tenner cheaper than Oil-Club, which I initially thought was a local outfit but now suspect are national. But nowadays they seem to be neck and neck.

https://www.oil-club.co.uk/

[Hallucigenia]

I used NWF Fuels recently. There was a £30 off 1st order offer with the code PRDISC30. The oil came on time.

NWF are listed on AIM, it might be worth asking if they have any shareholder discounts although as noted, margins are slender in this market.

[GoSeigen]

Yes, getting a good price (or good profit for the supplier) often depends on efficient delivery. If you can arrange with people nearby to have delivery on the same day it can be a win-win for everyone. I'm pretty sure some of the price-quoting web sites used to organise grouping of orders for cheaper pricing.

GS

[Imbiber]

Until we moved recently we used oil for heating and cooking on the Rayburn. Homefuels direct were consistently cheaper than Boiler juice..

[scrumpyjack]

I used Boilerjuice for many years, then the admin charge came in and then I found YourNrg usually cheaper and with no admin charge.

Now I always check both of them.

Whichever way you cut it, they all need to charge similar money to cover their costs and make a wafer-thin profit.

I started using Boiler Juice a couple of years ago as they were about a tenner cheaper than Oil-Club, which I initially thought was a local outfit but now suspect are national. But nowadays they seem to be neck and neck.

https://www.oil-club.co.uk/

I have always found oil-club much more expensive. Perhaps they are geared to smaller deliveries. My tanks have 5,000 litres capacity so my normal order is over 2k litres. Boilerjuice are making a margin on other firm's deliveries whilst YourNrg ae not

[Bminusrob]

Order placed.

Today's prices

Boilerjuice 67.29p/l plus £12 admin charge
Certas 65.06p/l
Ford 66.7p/l

[rhys]

Despite "Oil Club" being convenient, and emails appearing to 'get your order in before Monday 12:00', I've discovered that they're not the cheapest, rather they're cheaper than the median.

My most recent experience, December 2023, from calling my five local suppliers:

Dragon Oil (NWF Fuels) 82p
Cunnah 76P
Cambria Certas 62p
Quad FUels 74p
Wirral Fuels 73.4p

Clearly worth phoning around each time. Quad was cheapest in Jan 2023, and Dragon in Feb 22.

I call them once I've a spreadsheet open; some quote exVAT, others include it.

[GoSeigen]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ISTR that Boilerjuice got bought by one of the suppliers at some point. They started off consistently having the best price but it was all downhill from there.

GS

[Hallucigenia]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ISTR that Boilerjuice got bought by one of the suppliers at some point. They started off consistently having the best price but it was all downhill from there.

Briefly owned by DCC but they sold it back to the original founder in 2011 after questions about its independence.

More recently they obviously got screwed by the rise in prices after the Ukraine invasion and in 2022 refinanced with a new management team coming in that doesn't appear to have any obvious connections.