Over a barrel? Not any more for these villages

This festive season the residents of the North York Moors gateway village of Osmotherley will once again be getting their winter fuel by tanker. But for the first time they won’t feel as though the oil companies have them over a barrel.

The village has joined the growing ranks of North Yorkshire communities, not served by the UK’s gas network, in setting up its own “people power” oil buying group in order to drive down the price on behalf of those who live there.

Osmotherley-based businessman Tristan Sillars acts as the oil purchasing negotiator and since the group started it has already knocked thousands of pounds off the collective village heating bill.

“Starting up the group has switched the power back to us, the buyers,” says Tristan. “For so long we have suffered rising oil prices, especially in the winter when oil companies have been taking advantage and making huge profits.

“What we are now doing keeps them in check and limits their profitability. Prices last winter went as high as 90 pence per litre, which is completely unaffordable. Our most recent order, placed on 23 November, saw us buying oil at 55.74ppl. The current market price is 59ppl, which means we have made around a six per cent saving.”

The Osmotherley Oil Buying Group now purchases oil on behalf of a further six neighbouring villages including Knayton, Borrowby, Ingleby Cross and Swainby. It negotiates for 130 households who benefit from economies of scale.

Tristan adds: “Everyone around here relies on oil for their heating. We are all off the Transco network so we don’t have gas, like many rural communities either side of the A19 and right across the Moors.

“We are only two miles from the A19 but it gets very isolated and we are easily cut off.

“The bank leading up to Osmotherley becomes too much for oil tankers in snow and ice, so it is vital that supplies are ordered before the cold snap hits and the oil companies escalate the price beyond reasonable levels.

“Since I came here three years ago the price of oil for heating has doubled. Gas and electricity costs have also increased but the oil price is obviously a real killer here.

“The council only grits up to the cross in the centre of the village. For many residents that means a tanker cannot make it to their property. I live up a track and I waited four weeks last year for my delivery.

“It’s the worst feeling ever. If it hadn’t been for my fellow villager Ellen Cross we would probably be still in the same boat this winter. She initiated the group and she has put in by far the biggest effort to make it the success it is.”

Bargaining and buying in bulk is the key to success. Tristan has a pool of companies he deals with regularly and he relishes the opportunity to pit them each against one another.

“We started off with around 15 but quite quickly whittled that down to ten companies who could actually fulfil our order on time every time. We push it as far as we can. It’s a good feeling driving the oil guys down as far as they will go.

“Our first order saved everyone 2ppl off the mainstream market price, which was around a four per cent saving. For someone ordering around 1,000 litres that’s a £30 reduction. In these times that is not to be sniffed at. We feel that we can now achieve between five to ten per cent saving on every order.”

This is music to the ears of many urbanites who would like to do something similar with their energy suppliers. But they know, and successive governments have admitted, that the privatising of the energy market with the intention of encouraging competition has done nothing of the sort. However much individuals try to compare tariffs and switch suppliers, they know the big energy companies are only playing at a free market.

Out in the country however, the word is spreading about the power wielded by consumer co-operatives. And those who haven’t yet joined up are now lining up to do so. Debbie Di Giorgio has lived in Osmotherley for 14 years and for the last seven she has run the Three Tuns public house. She fully intends being part of the group for its next order.

“I’ve just had a delivery which I placed myself and I paid more than the price the group is getting,” she said. “I didn’t realise that you could order to top up your tanks so long as you ordered a minimum of 500 litres.”

Rosie Hughes is a project co-ordinator with the Yorkshire Energy Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation which since 1993 given on these matters. According to Tristan, it was through one of the partnership’s “energy days”, that the Osmotherley group heard about what was happening elsewhere. They liked what they were told about the Lower Swale Syndicate which takes in Brafferton, Raskelf, Sutton-on-the-Forest, Crayke, Husthwaite and a number of others. It now has over 240 members.

“Osmotherley heard what Chris Owens, who runs the Lower Swale syndicate, had to say and thought it was a great idea,” says Tristan.

“As a group we believe the best thing possible in the future is to utilise biomass boilers and heat pumps.

“But helping people become more aware of making any kind of saving is also what we are about. I’ll put my neck on the line here and say that our price through the group will always be cheaper than the price any single resident in the village can get.

“If all of our membership ordered at the same time we would be placing an order for 100,000 litres. That would get us an even bigger discount. And even on our current achievement we would have saved the village over £3,000.”

Osmotherley’s next oil buying group order will be January. The arrival of the first bad weather at the back end of this week is likely to concentrate minds even further on the business of keeping warm. There’s nothing like a cold snap to increase numbers. The most effective recruiting officers are Generals January and February.

Biomass energy could yet see wood chip and wood pellets replacing oil in the future.

Villages like Appleton-le-Moors on the fringe of the North York Moors set off in this direction some years ago, investigating green solutions.

When the snow lays round about, deep and crisp and even, gathering winter fuel in the woods may become a reality again - and not a welcome one to the oil companies.

People power – The Facts

The Yorkshire Energy Partnership started life as Ryedale Energy Conservation.

It’s owned and supported by local authorities.

It runs various projects including the Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre for Yorkshire.

Offers free and impartial advice on all aspects of energy and where to get hold of grants, discounts and benefit from free schemes – including renewable energies and insulation.

Contact: 01904 55406 or email: [email protected]