Home heating oil prices

km79

Thought it might be a good idea for people to post local prices. I'm on the hunt for the best deal now . Seems to be similar prices to last year.
450 euro for 500 litres ?

dinneenp

and not forgetting that Gawlay was being investigated for talk of a cartel and price fixing - link

Heating Oil



The last prosecution in the Galway heating oil case took place in May 2012, when a jury in Galway Circuit Court found Mr Pat Hegarty guilty of price-fixing. This brings to 18 the total number of convictions secured in the case. The heating oil case also yielded the first ever jury conviction for a price-fixing cartel in Ireland and Europe.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Raymond Groarke said of the offence that "...it has to be viewed as a very serious matter. There are many victims as a direct or indirect result of the criminal conduct of which Mr Hegarty has been convicted. ...and the motivation for this crime was one of greed."

"...Apart from the widespread class of victims of this crime, of course, there are more specifically the Mr Mulcairs of this world, those who walk the narrow legitimate path, who work hard to eke a modest living, and act within the law, people who make up the overwhelming majority, obviously, of people in this country and who suffer the consequences at the hands of bullies such as Mr Hegarty and his associates, who caused huge economic damage to Mr Mulcair and apparently would willingly have done so to many others if the necessity had arisen."

"...I see no reason why why I would not impose a two-year term of imprisonment upon Mr Hegarty...I'm also of the view that a penalty of a financial nature - as I've said, the motivation for the commission of this crime was clearly greed - and a financial penalty must be imposed in order to teach those who are motivated by greed to commit crime that there can be a serious and painful penalty for them as and when the crime is to be punished."

The full transcript of the sentencing hearing can be viewed here.

Background

In June 2001, the Competition Authority received an anonymous complaint alleging that heating oil companies across the west of Ireland were engaging in price-fixing. It was alleged that most of the distributors of heating oil in the Galway city and Galway county area had agreed to increase the margin on the price of kerosene and gas oil.

In 2004 the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) initiated proceedings against 24 individuals and companies in the ‘heating oil cases’. The charges related to allegations of fixing the retail price of heating oil. The prosecutions followed an investigation by the Competition Authority which referred a file to the DPP in 2003. All of the accused were sent forward for trial on indictment to Galway Circuit Court.



The investigation and subsequent proceedings yielded 18 convictions involving ten undertakings and eight individuals. A nolle prosequi was entered in six cases.

In May 2007, a nolle prosequi was entered by the DPP against Sweeney Oil Limited leaving Pat Hegarty, an employee of Sweeney Oil, as the last remaining defendant in the heating oil prosecution.

In this case, the defendant challenged the legality of the proceedings against him. His legal challenge was based on the fact that no proceedings were issued against the company he was employed by and that his company was never convicted of the alleged competition law offence. The defendant argued that he could not be convicted of an alleged cartel offence unless his employer (which is alleged to have been part of the cartel) was first convicted of the offence.

The Circuit Court referred this question of law to the Supreme Court for adjudication (a process known as a ‘consultative case stated’). In November 2010, the Supreme Court heard the parties’ submissions.

In July 2011 Mr Justice William M McKechnie of the Supreme Court gave the judgment of the court. The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Hegarty can be tried even in circumstances where the company he was employed by has not been prosecuted, let alone convicted of a criminal offence, under the Act.



A copy of the Supreme Court decision can be found by clicking here.

Following the ruling by the Supreme Court, the case was sent back to Galway Circuit Court and on 3 May 2012, Pat Hegarty became the last defendent in the heating oil case to be prosecuted. He was found guilty of price-fixing by a jury and sentenced to two years in prison (suspended) and fined €30,000.

A summary of all convictions is set out in the table below.

dnme

With regard to the above posts and seeing as some contributions are form people within the industry, let me ask you this . . .

How can consumers best protect themselves against any or all of the scam methods mentioned above. Whats your advice? Lets say I order 500 litres of HHO in the morning, what should I do next ?

JR Ewing

dnme wrote: »

With regard to the above posts and seeing as some contributions are form people within the industry, let me ask you this . . .

How can consumers best protect themselves against any or all of the scam methods mentioned above. Whats your advice? Lets say I order 500 litres of HHO in the morning, what should I do next ?

A few pointers which MAY help you avoid some of the pitfalls.

1. The work needs to be done BEFORE you order from any supplier as unless you refuse to accept the delivery when they arrive you are screwed as soon as the oil hits the bottom of the tank.
2. Personally I would advise people to use only branded suppliers such as Maxol/Topaz/Texaco/TOP/EMO/Morris/ESSO etc as they are most likely to have everything in order with regard to calibrations. That is not to say that even some of these companies haven't sacked the odd rogue driver who was on the fiddle.
3. I would stick to getting quotations from only these branded companies. The laughable thing at the moment is that these legitimate companies are actually having to compete on a daily basis with rogues so it is most likely that you can purchase your supply for within €10-20 of the lowest price quoted in your area. My attitute is that I would rather have fuel (and the correct amount of it) from a bona fide source than perhaps a substandard product or short delivered amount from a mickey mouse set up? €20 well spent in my book.
4. Be there when delivery is taking place- ask to see the meter before delivery making sure it is at zero & ensure it reaches the amount ordered which should be printed on your docket. Legal Metrology are more active at the moment (as the short deliveries had reached crisis levels) so a supplier would be insane to have the meter rigged as a method of fraud.
5. Might be an idea to mark your tank of the level where the oil is prior to delivery & again after delivery. The dimensions of your tank should be marked on it & it takes just simple maths to work out the volumes afterwards. This won't be 100% accurate but is at least some sort of check which can also be carried forward into your next order i.e. if 500 litres rose the level in the tabnk by 500mm then it should rise it by 500mm everytime.
6. If you use Marked Gas Oil heating ensure that you actually get MGO. Kerosene (which is cheaper) can be "mixed" with MGO to give margin to the supplier. MGO is green while kero is red so by dipping a clear bottle into the tank will show any contamination.
7. Always dip your tank prior to delivery to ensure you can accept the full amount ordered. If it won't take 1000 litres order & get a price on 800- failing this you will get 800 & be penalised above the 1000 litre price.
8. I know it is too late after the event as the oil is in the tank but always work out from your invoice what you were charged and check this against what you were quoted? I bet there may be a difference!! Quote low- deliver an "unround" number of litres and confuse the issue!!

I hope that these pointers are of assistance. The problem with the oil market at the moment is that the general public (whom aren't aware in many cases of what is going on) are looking for "bargains" or cheap looking deals - it is this bargain hunting which is being preyed upon by the rogues as the simple fact is that there is no such thing as CHEAP OIL- it is expensive. The average margin on a delivery is approx €30-40 gross i.e. before paying for the truck/driver/tax/insurance/diesel etc etc so there aren't huge savings to be made as that level of profitability simply isn't there.......unless of course you can create extra profitability by leaving the customer short??!! Yes there are savings to be made by shopping around for high margin purchases such as insurance, telecoms, clothes and various other tangible products but with oil you are at the mercy of the supplier as you will know the price but as I have already said- price is only 33% of the deal- volume & product quality are equally important.