Lilley is not supplied with mains gas so heating our homes can be a tricky and sometimes expensive business but there are ways of cutting this cost and at the same time being kinder to the environment.

Some members have used the website boilerjuice, this provides some excellent information not least of which being their price graphs giving you the best chance of buying at the right time.

This is not an ideal solution however, boilerjuice is only a website, they don't actually supply the oil, that part is subcontracted. They get the excellent prices by buying a large reservation with a supplier at a fixed price then delivering to you, hence the saving of up to 15%.

Therin lies the problem however, the contracted supplier gets a lower price for your delivery and will therefore prioritise yours below that of higher priced orders, fairs fair, if you want a bargain you may have to make some small sacrifices. The author in fact is a boilerjuice customer and saved more than £50 on his last order although the delivery took nearly 2 weeks and the supplier could not say when it would be delivered until it was in the tanker.

It is possible to gain similar cost savings with a local company by clubbing together and buying in bulk. This saves us money but also reduces harm to the environment as the lorry doesn't have to drive back and forth with every delivery. Some villages in the area already operate buying clubs and benefit from worthwhile savings at the same time as acquiring buying power with the oil supplier and getting the delivery when it's required.

The obvious disadvantage of operating a buying club is just that, someone has to operate it, such arrangements are always time consuming and unrewarding as someone will always be unhappy. That is why we're proposing to build a system here in the Lilleyvillage website to operate the club automatically.

We propose having a membership role (fully encrypted and secure of course) that would take your payment details and store them until enough orders have been collected to make the bulk order.

You would enter the date that you will need heating oil and the amount you need. You can change this at any time prior to the supplier order being placed.

You will be able to see your own requirement along with that of everyone else (personal details removed of course), when an order is issued you will be able to see the total amount ordered, the supplier details, the delivery date and the price per litre the club paid on the order. The amount charged to you will be shown along with the discount amount you have recieved.

We envisage a system where club members would not only enter the next deliery they need but regular deliveries into the future (editable if your requirements change) this would result in a steady buying pattern benefitting everyone.

What do you need to do to join?

Initially just subscribe to the mailing list or edit your mailing list details here and indicate your interest by ticking the appropriate box. Please consider the method suggested here, if you want it done another way or have a better idea for how to run it, please either put your comments in the comments box when you join the mailing list or you can email us using the button to the left.

If enough people express an interest we will set something up. Joining the mailing list is in no way a commitment from you to either join the club or purchase anything, it's for information only.

It may also be possible to make similar savings on Calor Gas or on firewood, if you're interested please add a comment.