If you live in a rural location you cannot just check traditional price comparison sites to see if you're getting a good deal on your oil and gas supplies. Many rural dwellers have to ring around every time they need oil or gas to heat their homes, www.homeheathelp.com is a new not for profit website that aims to address this situation.
Shropshire, UK- (SBWIRE) -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/08/2013 -- Approximately four million, 15% of UK households are not on the mains gas grid. These off-grid households have to rely on a range of other fuels such as oil, LPG, coal, etc. to keep warm. The average cost of heating a typical three bedroom off-grid house is estimated to be between 50% and 100% higher than if it were connected to the mains gas supply.
Unlike on-grid homes, rural dwellers are not covered by the GB and NI energy regulators, the off-grid energy market is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). It is very difficult for people in rural areas to know exactly what companies serve their area and if their prices are fair. People who buy heating oil and gas usually have to make 2 or 3 purchases a year, without ringing around several different suppliers it is very difficult for these consumers to know whether their incumbent supplier is giving them a good, bad or indifferent price.
One Shropshire rural dweller has become so frustrated with living off-grid he has decided to set-up a not for profit website, Andrew has created www.homeheathelp.com which he hopes will enable him and other off-grid households to crowd-source the best prices on their energy purchases.
He hopes that users of homeheathelp.com will post details of their purchases on the site, enabling other people in the same approximate area to find which supplier is offering the best prices for heating oil and LPG purchases.
Andrew says “From my own experience I know that LPG prices can be as much as 25% different between suppliers – and just like mains people, we find it difficult to find the time to research the market every few months, so the companies rely on inertia to keep us paying over the odds. Also, just because a company is local to you, it doesn’t make them the cheapest.” Andrew says that he used the same supplier for 7 years before chatting with a neighbour and discovering he could have been paying a lot less. “I went back to my supplier, and they not only met my neighbours price, they gave me a goodwill refund as well”.
For more information visit http://www.homeheathelp.com/about-us/4579710430.