Buy Oil Now Before Winter Sets In Says Trade Association
Forecasters are warning of a cold winter so heating oil trade association, FPS (Federation of Petroleum Suppliers) is urging the 1.5m households across the UK to buy their heating oil now before the weather affects deliveries and price by launching the 2015 ‘Buy Oil Early‘ campaign with the Citizens Advice Bureau, ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) together with Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom.
In the week when Sutherland Tables, provider of comparative home heating costs for the most common fuels in the UK and Republic of Ireland has announced its latest figures showing heating oil is 45% cheaper than this time last year Chief Executive of the FPS Mark Askew comments: “The price of heating oil is currently cheaper than gas heating for the fifth quarter in a row so the FPS say it is a great time to buy, particularly if we are in for a bad winter. When snow hits us deliveries of heating oil to mainly rural areas take longer and costs rise as oil heating distributors are forced to pay staff for longer hours to cope with the increase in demand and pay more for fuel to collect heating oil from refineries so we are advising homeowners to purchase their heating oil now while prices are low and oil distributors can get to them.â€
Home heating costs using oil continue to dip well below the 4 year average with costs now sitting at approximately 50 – 53% lower than the 4 year average, for both existing and newer build dwellings in the UK & NI and householders are spending on average up to 45% less this winter than last year.
Minister of State for Energy Andrea Leadsom said, “My priority is keeping bills low for hardworking families and businesses, and with winter on its way it makes sense to plan ahead. If you use oil to heat your home, buying it sooner rather than later will help you avoid longer delivery times as demand increases…”
Mark Askew adds “Our members understand that times are hard and people may want to wait before ordering fuel but many oil distributors run payment schemes to encourage customers to have bigger, less frequent deliveries but then spread the payments out over the whole year, helping both financially and ensuring homeowners don’t run out of fuel when winter hits. Every year we have a few customers who run out of heating oil and I think a lot of people are often taken by surprise when it starts snowing and have to wait longer than usual to get their delivery. Our members pride themselves on their service, and their drivers have been fantastic in some really tricky driving conditions, but they can be slowed down by the road conditions and occasionally just about brought to a standstill; at times roads can be blocked and they simply can’t get through the snow to some rural areas for a few days, but we and our members always liaise with local authorities and follow the gritters into the worst affected areas. In some of the worst conditions like the winter of 2010 we heard from quite a few people whose regular supplier wasn’t able to deliver to them for as long as three weeks. Our advice is always to plan ahead and fill your tank up sooner rather than later.”
Source: FPS (Federation of Petroleum Suppliers) Press Release
