Dr Roz Savage

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing the debate. South Cotswolds is one of England’s most off-grid constituencies. One in five households there relies on heating oil, which is around four times the national average. One constituent wrote to me last month that they feel “forgotten about”. Costs have doubled for families already paying a rural premium of 10% to 20% on everyday essentials and living in some of our hardest-to-heat homes. Unlike gas bills, heating oil must be paid for in a large lump sum when the tanker arrives. There is no Ofgem price cap, which leaves households exposed to volatile global markets and decisions made thousands of miles away. I welcome the Government’s efforts and the work of Wiltshire council and the Centre for Sustainable Energy to get support to those who need it, but £53 million across 1.5 million oil-heated homes works out at just £35 each—enough for about 30 litres. The 4% tariff suspension is welcome, but it hardly compensates for prices doubling, and removing gas standing charges is no help to people without gas. I have three asks of the Minister. First, will she press colleagues for a clear timetable to regulate the heating oil market? Secondly, will she push for further support through the crisis and resilience fund? Thirdly, will she commit to rural-proofing future energy and cost of living measures so that people are not disadvantaged simply because they live beyond the gas grid. Being off the gas grid should not mean being off the Government’s radar.