COMMUNITY OIL BUYING CLUB SAVES ENERGY AND MONEY

Bryson Energy Hosts Cregagh Energy Efficiency & Money Matters Information Day. Bryson Energy’s Community Oil Buying Club which operates in North and East Belfast has been at the forefront of saving communities money and energy.

Thursday 27 February 2014

COMMUNITY OIL BUYING CLUB SAVES ENERGY AND MONEY

The scheme which has almost 100 members completed a group buy of 16,700 litres of oil at the end of January for 38 households, delivering group savings of £600 and individual savings on average of £16.

To further increase household’s awareness of energy saving measures Bryson Energy is organising an information day on Friday 7th March, from 11.30 to 2.30pm in Cregagh Youth and Community Centre. Supported by the Financial Capability Partnership NI, a range of organisations will be present including the Consumer Council, National Energy Action (NEA), Firmus Energy, Power NI, Warm Homes, Advice NI, NIHE, Castlereagh Borough Council and Christians against Poverty and Credit Unions.

Advisors will be on hand to provide practical tips on how to save money on energy bills, to budget or to manage debt. Advice will also be available on consumer rights, energy efficiency schemes and energy brokering initiatives such as the Community Oil Buying Club.

The Community Oil Buying Club was developed in response to research findings produced by the Ulster University which showed that almost all those in ‘extreme’ fuel poverty, some 33,499 households, rely on oil for their main heating system, but only 25% of these households shopped around for the best price before purchase. Raymond Gormley, Bryson Energy explains:

“The Community Oil Buying Club was an initiative that was developed as a pilot initially in the Cregagh area of East Belfast and in the Ardyone/Oldpark area of North Belfast. The objective of the scheme is to help 300 households across these two areas to avail of cheaper oil prices by co-ordinating bulk buys. By the end of December 2013, 100 households had successfully achieved cheaper oil prices through the scheme with each household achieving on average a £15 saving on the cheapest oil prices available anywhere on the days we bought oil.”

Raymond adds: “For people that are trying to buy small amounts of oil, they often have to pay extra per litre to the filling stations compared to larger orders from oil suppliers. Let me give you an example, in Belfast on Saturday (8/2/14) the average cost of 500 litres of oil bought in bulk cost £289.50 which works out at 57.9p per litre; a litre of oil bought in a plastic container is 69.9p per litre (Price 8/2/14 at Rosetta Filling station). That’s 12p extra per litre or £60 for every 500 litre fill. In my experience very few people tend to get 900 litre fills any more, they tend to order less, so instead of getting 3 x 900 litre fills a year when oil prices were cheaper a few years ago, they now tend to get between 3 and 5 x 500 litre oil fills a year.

“If you consider the average family needs around 2,000 – 2,500 litres of oil per annum to heat their home adequately, this price difference means that a fuel poverty family who are buying their oil in small amounts have to pay an extra £240 - £300 for their heat over the course of a year.”

Bryson Energy is part of the Bryson Charitable Group, Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprise. Nigel Brady, Director, Bryson Energy encourages householders across Northern Ireland to avail of such initiatives:

“Fuel poverty is extensive in Northern Ireland. Essentially there are three aspects that have a role to play: energy efficiency, fuel costs and income. In Northern Ireland, oil as the most common method of fuel for heating homes creates an over dependency on one particular form of fuel. This is an issue unique to our region of the UK and means that fuel poverty initiatives in Northern Ireland need to reflect this and are likely to be significantly different to other regions.

“Budgeting for fuel is another element where households can benefit from an overarching ‘whole house’ solution to fuel poverty. While the use of Credit Unions accounts can clearly assist fuel poor houses to get best value there is a disappointing use of accounts to bulk buy at reduced cost. The information day will provide householders with practical advice and solutions on how to save energy and money.”

For those that are interested in getting involved in the Bryson Energy Community Oil Buying Club there are a further two bulk buys scheduled for the end of February and the end of March.

To help tackle fuel poverty, Bryson Energy is calling on communities to set up Community Oil Clubs.

For further information on how communities can go about setting up a club log on to: http://www.brysonenergy.org/images/Brokering%20Guidance.pdf

Thursday 27 February 2014