April 2013. Why the flip is heating oil more expensive than January??

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

I'm based in Kent, any recommendations ? It will be spring shortly (I know) so surely it should be going down now.

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

Bump, anyone? I'm quite new to this oil heating lark. Don't enjoy it much

[PigletJohn]

I think because we've just had the coldest March in British history, so stocks will have been exhausted and we're having to import whatever we can get.

[purrpurr]

How expensive should January be?

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

Well Jan was about 60p a litre and now it's 66p, I know it's cold at the moment but March is the traditional time for prices to start dropping. I hate being 'had' by the oil companies as I think the general oil price has dropped quite a lot.

[Abzs]

I suppose many people will have bought enough to get them through winter and spring before topping up when the prices drop in the summer.

The winter 'heating on' part of the equation has been quite a bit longer than anticipated, so they're running out and are buying it now and the prices have gone up again.

Supply and demand, as PigletJohn said.

[Pascha]

We used Rye Oil a couple of weeks ago but they are no better or worse than anyone else.

[specialsubject]

I had a quote of 61p plus VAT yesterday - about the same as the end of January.

I believe it is area-dependent, though, and you need to do lots of boring phoning around each time.

[MrsGrowbag]

Heating oil always hits its peak price for the year at the same time as we run low...
Seriously, one of the cheapest things to do is to join a local oil buying group. If you haven't got one in your village, then create one! It takes a bit of organisation but buying in bulk means you get really good discounts. We are in a local buying group that always buys on the 1st Monday each month, the orders are collated the weekend before via email, and as long as you make sure you have at least a months worth of oil you can buy via the group. It saves at least 10%, and sometimes 15 - 20%. Which on the cost of our oil tank is a new jumper from Boden worthwhile saving on the housekeeping budget.

[GrendelsMum]

Awful, isn't it? We've got the wood stove on every evening to try and compensate.

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

We have an inglenook which frankly is about as efficient as having a roaring log fire DVD. Can we improve it without getting a wood burner? I'm thinking metal hood type thing?

[GrendelsMum]

Oh my God, I can only shudder at the horror of a full inglenook.

I think that it was literally the first thing we did in our house - which was a massive renovation project when we moved in - shove wood burners in the huge open fireplaces.

No, I remember now - DH wanted to have one Christmas with a vast fireplace with traditional huge logs, so we shivered through one winter and then put the second wood burner in as soon as spring came. At one particularly bad point in the renovations the house was heated in January and Febuary only by one wood burner.

The cat is stretched out in front of the wood burner now and is clearly chuffed to bits.

[aJumpedUpPantryBoy]

NaturalBlondeYeahRight, I hate to tell you that we had an inglenook and until we installed a woodburner it was like trying to heat a giant hall with a candle.

With the woodburner it is lovely and cosy

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

But it looks so nice (Whiny voice)
Every spring you think, nah wasn't that bad. Pah, 1000 litres of oil lasting 6 weeks is par for the course with old houses etc etc

We WILL get a new boiler this summer, you never know,it might last eight weeks!

[babamummy]

Have you tried Goff Petroleum. I'm in Essex but just checked and they seem to cover Kent as well. We didn't use too much oil last winter but this winter has been terrible. I usually ring 2-3 different places and then ring Goff last and most of the time they will better your other quotes.

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

Goff are one of my 'go to' suppliers. It was £60 more than Sprint! Make the first quote seem reasonable now.
Oh we'll better suck it up and start ordering those boiler/wood burner brochures then