Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Cheap Heating oil: Get the best price
Reading Time: 5 minutesKeeping your house warm doesn’t have to cost a fortune – stick to cheap heating oil.
Heating oil offers an alternative to gas central heating. Approximately 1.5 million households across the UK use kerosene. Some people choose to install oil-fired central heating. Others simply aren’t on the national gas grid and therefore their options are limited.
Home fuels are more popular in rural areas, with 37% of rural homes using kerosene or gas oil. However, heating oil can and is used in more built-up areas too. In towns with a population of 10,000 or more, 5.5% of the homes use heating oil
Get your hands on cheap heating oil
Current prices
As you can see from the graph provided by HomeFuelsDirect.co.uk, the price of heating oil can vary dramatically between suppliers. You could spend a lot of time calling around your local supplies and depots to get the best deal. But there’re numerous companies that’ll do it for you. Using their bulk purchasing power, they can often get much better deals and faster deliveries too.
HOMEFUELSDIRECT.CO.UK
HomeFuels Direct offer some of the best prices on the market. They’re also extremely transparent with the pricing. Their instant quote form doesn’t even require your email address – so no annoying emails.
Once you’ve ordered your cheap heating oil, their advanced order tracking system shows you the progress of your order. You’ll receive text alerts with the delivery driver’s name and registration. Worried about running out of oil? You can opt in to text reminders. HomeFuels Direct calculates when they expect your oil tank will require a top up.
Established in 2008, HomeFuels aims to make ordering your heating oil easier. Their team contacts suppliers nationwide daily to offer the best heating oil prices around the UK.
A message from the Managing Director, Chris Bicknell:
“I established HomeFuels Direct in January 2008 with the intention of providing a service tailored around the consumer. My aim was to create a convenient way to order heating oil and our other products and services 24/7 whilst remaining extremely transparent with pricing.”
“The UK heating oil market prior to 2008 was old fashioned. It didn’t like to bare-all so we decided to turn that upside down. We stripped everything right back and provided the same products and services as other providers – but at affordable prices. So if you live in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland you can benefit from the products and services we provide.”
BoilerJuice
One of the best sites to visit if you’re in a remote area is BoilerJuice. It offers a comprehensive directory of heating oil suppliers.
How it works
To get a free quote, simply provide your postcode, desired delivery date and the amount of oil you need. BoilerJuice will then search their databases and come up with the cheapest quote for your amount, area and preferred delivery time.
Once you’ve got a free quote, there’s no obligation to buy. It’s a good way to get an idea of prices in your area.
BoilerJuice also runs ‘buying weekends’ which anyone can take part in. They organise your delivery in accordance with those in your surrounding area. This can save you some serious money.
In the past, we’ve been told that once you’ve placed your order with BoilerJuice, you were somewhat on your own. But their spokesperson has told us that they “have a customer service team who assist our customers right through to delivery. We offer personalised assistance over the phone and rectify any problems on behalf of the customer”.
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Heatingoil.co.uk
Heatingoil.co.uk is great to save you money. They also have a dedicated after-sales team to deal with any issues you may have.
Their latest research shows that the ‘premium’ oil – or premium kerosene as it’s otherwise known – will help optimise the efficiency of heating systems and save consumers money in the process. You can save by using a higher-quality oil as it increases the efficiency of your tank or boiler.
How it works
Unlike the others, you can buy your oil directly from Heatingoil.co.uk. Their site claims to offer lower prices because they only do quotes online. This means they have less staff and fewer overheads, so they pass the savings on to the customer.
They’ll give you an instant quote if you enter your postcode. Then choose whether or not you want to carry on and buy from them.
They also allow you to order your cheap heating oil up to a month before delivery. They agree prices for up to 28 days in advance with their suppliers. You’re guaranteed the price per litre you paid on the day, even if the oil price rises. Watch out, though, because conversely, if the price drops, you’ll be paying more. And if you want to cancel and re-order, they’ll charge you a £10 admin fee.
Unlike BoilerJuice, these guys take charge of all aftersales. So you’ll be dealing with them if any problems arise or if you need to cancel orders.
The best way to get the cheapest price on this site is to select a large delivery window. This flexibility means they can work your order around other orders in your area. And like BoilerJuice, these guys run group-buying days.
Make even more savings
Time your order
It’s hard to predict when prices will rise and fall. Right now, they’re low so it makes sense to start looking to buy.
Ditch the direct debit
Try to avoid setting up a direct debt with a particular supplier. Being tied up to one specific company means you won’t always be getting the best price. Also make sure you avoid automatic top-up schemes.
Negotiate
Never accept the first quote you’re offered. Although it requires more effort, it’s best to follow the MoneyMagpie mantra – shop around and compare prices. You can then use these quotes to negotiate with your preferred supplier, if you have one. Or just go for the lowest quote you’ve received.
Order in specific amounts
Remember that tanker deliveries are designed to return to the depot empty. If there isn’t enough room to put all the oil you’ve ordered in your tank, it’ll cost more for the tanker to return to the depot. You’re the one who’ll foot the bill.
So – to avoid paying for oil you don’t get the benefit of, make sure you have enough space for the full delivery. Or only order the specific amount you’ve got room for.
Order in bulk
You’ll get a better price if you get together with your friends and neighbours. The supplier will only have to send out one tanker that way and they’ll be able to pass the savings onto you.
In addition, the more oil you buy at one time, the more power you’ll have to negotiate on price. The suppliers will be especially keen to get your business if it’s a large order. They’ll also be more inclined to offer you a cheaper price per litre. Don’t forget to check your tank as well as your boiler. Storage tanks should also be serviced once a year to check for signs of age and need for repair.
We hope these top tips will help you find cheap heating oil.
I used a fuel price comparison website called Find a Fuel Supplier to find my best price on heating oil These guys display ‘live daily prices’ for all the fuel suppliers mentioned in this article which i have never come across before. I usually end up ringing around 4 or so suppliers for the best prices, these guys host all the best prices for you to see.
As per Jane’s comment, it would be great if the article could be updated as a lot appears to have changed in a year. Just did a quick comparison and ended up buying 900litres to fill up from heatingoil.co.uk for my house in Carmarthen.
Tips sound good – we’ve used BoilerJuice to track prices then ask local suppliers to match! Disappointed that facts & figures are over a year old! Wonder what else is out-of-date?
They have called to arrange delivery for tomorrow. Squeaky gates, oil and all that.
Love the avatar Karen – cute dog!
I ordered 800 litres of oil using Which Oil Supplier from Homefuels Direct in the am 9 days ago. They took the payment and I’ve heard nothing from them since! Chasing up.
Used Boilerjuice for all my deliveries for nearly two years but my previous two drops I have used FuelFighter they have proven to be cheaper than all the other online suppliers that I have tried but having recommended them to a relative in Bedfordshire I think there coverage is limited to Lincolnshire and further North but by far and away the the cheapest I have found.
Cheapest Oil Ltd (Reg. No. NI071311) used to be listed here. CheapestOil.co.uk has been operating for over 4 years (pre dating most of the sites mentioned here) and serve commission free prices to thousands of people every day.
We’re listed on some government pamphlets as a great way to save money on heating oil.
Good tips! Great to hear that the post was helpful.
Why do you have to buy 500L as a minimum? I can’t afford that but need to get some oil in to use only when I want to make sure the pipes don’t freeze – a requirement of the landlord. I don’t intend using the oil to heat the house for the winter.
I only need 250L !
Re minimum order of 500litres.
This is standard with most suppliers. Its to do with Weights & Measures Act. They have to have a certain number of litres to be able to measure a 1% disperancy (evaporation, spill etc).
Some oil suppliers have a special licence to distribute smaller amounts usually 250litres but you’ll pay a premium. Some suppliers have a facility at yards for you to fill up yourself though again costly.
For best prices join an oil buying club if one exists in your area.
WhichOilSupplier is a great comparison website and easy to use. Unlike some of the other sites they don’t charge suppliers so the price you see is the same as the one you would get if you called the suppliers direct. Simple to use too – all you do is enter your postcode and litres required.