Heating Oil Prices: Rural Areas
Wednesday, 4 November 2026
Contributions
[Paula Barker in the Chair ]
Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)Liberal Democrat
I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of heating oil prices on rural areas. I thank all the many Members who have come along to this important debate on addressing the growing impact of rising heating oil prices on rural households. I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead the debate. This issue is causing real anxiety the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, and particularly in my far-north constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. For many people in the highlands of Scotland, using heating oil is not a choice, but the only practical way to heat their homes—especially during the winter months, when it is a lot colder than in other parts of the UK—because homes are scattered across a vast geography and the main gas grid is not really accessible; there are not many access points in my constituency. Lots of households that rely on heating oil do not benefit from the same protections as those connected to the main gas grid and electricity networks—that point has been made several times in this place. The regulatory safeguards do not really cover those people, and they are very much hit by sudden price increases. My office tells me that across the UK, about 1.5 million homes, a substantial proportion of which are in rural communities, rely on heating oil. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has highlighted that rural households typically spend 10% to 20% more on everyday essentials than their urban counterparts. They are also susceptible to higher levels of fuel poverty, because they often live in older, detached properties that are more difficult to insulate, meaning that they have poor energy efficiency. As Members will be aware, the conflict in Iran has caused severe disruption to global energy markets.
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)Scottish National Party
As usual, the hon. Member is making an excellent, well-informed speech. Does he agree that it is rather sad that, given the absence of any support in the Budget, people in our constituencies are looking to the mid-term elections in America to lead to peace in the middle east and a reduction in prices?
The hon. Member makes a characteristically interesting point, in which there may be some truth. The price increases because of the war in Iran have led to some households having their bills doubled or even trebled. Age UK has given me some stats, and here are a couple of examples. One 80-year-old man with serious health problems saw the cost of filling his heating oil tank double from £400 in January to £800 in March. Imagine that.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Last week, a constituent got in touch to say that she had had to make a minimum order of 500 litres of oil at the cost of £560, meaning that she was out of cash for the rest of the month. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to bring down minimum orders as well as look at issues affecting the price of oil?
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. Let me give one more example: a couple in their 70s, for whom the increase has been equally alarming. Their bill rose from £300 to £700, despite one of them having suffered a stroke and needing to be kept warm, for obvious health reasons. These are not abstract stats, but real people—vulnerable people who are trying to manage their household budgets, pay the bills and keep their houses warm. I have talked several times in this place about elderly and vulnerable people having to make the invidious decision either to freeze or to switch on the heating and worry about running into debt.
Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)Conservative
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman; he has done a great service in bringing this matter to the Chamber for our consideration. In my constituency, as in his, the vulnerable people are often in isolated communities; I think of Holbeach Hurn, Holbeach St Johns, Gedney and Fleet Hargate. Those people depend on heating oil, and they do not enjoy the same kind of protection that other energy users do. It is as simple as that. The Government need to act.
The point is extremely well made. Being a cheeky chap from the north of Scotland, I thought it would be wise to write to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget to make the case for targeted support for heating oil customers. I am a little disappointed that the measures that were announced did not go quite as far as I had suggested, but—
Lara Bird (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)Scottish National Party
I thank the hon. Member for securing this incredibly time-sensitive and critical debate, and for the points that he has made so far. Does he agree that it was incredibly disappointing for the people in our constituencies who rely on heating oil who were looking to the Budget to provide them with solutions that not a single penny was allocated to support them? Furthermore, does he agree that the UK Government should take lessons from the Scottish Government, who have implemented the emergency heating oil support fund, which so far has helped more than 7,000 people?
The hon. Member makes a good point. She may be cornering me into agreeing with something that the Scottish Government have done, which does not necessarily go with the grain of my psyche. Let me put it this way: the United Kingdom Government will be hearing from me again in yet another of my letters.
Ashley Dalton (West Lancashire) (Lab)Labour
I agree with the hon. Member that households reliant on heating oil, including those in my constituency of West Lancashire, face particular issues, especially around price volatility and the absence of the consumer protections that users of electricity and gas might have. But does he not welcome the Government’s previous £50 million investment in supporting the sector, including working with Ofgem, the industry and consumers to bring forward consumer protections? [ Interruption. ]
Paula Barker (in the Chair)Labour
Order.
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming —
The debate will now run until 4.10 pm.
Thank you very much, Mrs Barker; aren’t these Divisions annoying things? The hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) made an extremely fair point in her intervention. I have previously welcomed the Government’s commitment of £53 million, which she mentioned, to help households struggling with soaring heating oil prices. That was a move in the right direction, and I give credit where it is due. The support was well meant, but the trouble is that, balanced against the 1.5 million homes that use heating oil, it is only about £35 per household.
John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)Conservative
The hon. Member is making an excellent speech. Thousands of my constituents rely on heating oil. Although the Government are taking VAT off electricity and have announced the removal of standing charges for electricity customers, those things do nothing to help heating oil customers. Does he agree that the Government really need to focus on those customers to ensure that they are getting the help they need?
I do agree. Hopefully, a debate of this nature will gradually, through good will on all sides and among all political parties, shift the focus on to the sort of people we are talking about. There is also concern about the take-up of the schemes and the practical difficulties involved in identifying households. Age UK has highlighted the challenges facing organisations and local authorities in reaching out to people who desperately need the help. Perhaps we could all collectively work with the Government to ensure that steps are taken to support people to get what they desperately need. Turning to my own party’s specific proposals, we have called for three months of zero-rated VAT on domestic heating oil. I appreciate that a VAT reduction would not necessarily reverse the international price increase that is so bedevilling this issue—it would not solve the underlying problem—but it would provide practical assistance at a time when households are facing exceptionally high bills. To quote somebody more august than me, it would be a “breathing space”. For that reason, I encourage the Government to properly assess the cost and practical implications of a temporary reduction in VAT. We will see what comes of that, but I make that appeal to those on the Government Benches.
Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)Liberal Democrat
I support the idea of a VAT freeze. Hundreds of my constituents rely on heating oil. A pensioner couple in my constituency ordered oil at 60p a litre in February; the order dragged on and was cancelled, then they were told that they could reorder at 124p per litre—more than double the price. Although a VAT freeze would not roll that back, it would go a long way towards helping those people out.
Yes, that is absolutely correct. I live in an old, stone-built house in the highlands, and its only source of heating, apart from anything electric we put on, is an oil-fired boiler. People have raised with me issues around price transparency and whether the quotation is really what it says, because the quoted price and the final delivery price are not always the same thing, and we do not seem to have a proper complaints or redress process. For older and vulnerable people—the people I have talked about, who worry about whether to put the heating on and run into debt or what to do—it can be particularly difficult to navigate. I welcome the Government’s acceptance in principle of the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations, and their commitment to bring heating oil customers within Ofgem’s regulatory remit. That can only be a good thing, but I ask for a clear timetable, because households have waited a long, long time. Hon. and right hon. colleagues will know that this is not the first time that I have gone on at some length about this particular issue, so that would be handy. As many Members wish to speak—I thank each and every one for coming—I will make one final point: we must look beyond the immediate crisis to the long-term solution. I think we would all agree with that. It is not sustainable simply to respond every time international events cause heating oil prices to rise. We need to make rural homes warmer, more energy-efficient and cheaper to heat.
Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)Liberal Democrat
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The challenge is compounded by the nature of the housing stock in rural constituencies. Friends of the Earth says that in my constituency, 12% of people are living in fuel poverty and 62% of homes have an energy performance certificate rating of D or lower. Does he agree that part of the solution is making our homes more sustainable in terms of energy?
I entirely agree. As we know, doing this work on some older properties is incredibly difficult. I am bound to say—I return to where I started—that when I ask my constituents in the highlands, in the very far north, “Well, what about a heat pump?” many laugh at me and say, “You’re joking—in this old croft house? That is not feasible at all.” We have to be practical about what we can do. I am very grateful to the many Members who have turned up to the debate. I believe it is the start of a discussion, and we are all on the same sheet. Let us make it happen and see what we can do for some of the most vulnerable in society.
Order. I will be imposing an immediate two-minute limit on speeches.
Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this important debate. I pay tribute to the Labour Government for putting heating oil on the agenda for the first time; for a long time, most Governments have ignored off-grid homes. I know that the hon. Member would recognise a peat turf if it were thrown at him. Peat is how most homes in my Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency were heated traditionally, but of course most have now been converted to oil. Forty-eight per cent of homes in the Western Isles rely on heating oil. Because of the age and condition of the homes, the Atlantic weather and the demographics of the population, 40% of households are in fuel poverty. In fact, it is worse than that, because 24% of households are in extreme fuel poverty: they spend over 20% of their income on keeping their homes warm in winter. Heating their homes is a huge challenge. That is why the £53 million heating oil support scheme, and the £10 million to Scotland, was very welcome. The Scottish Government added £5.4 million to the £4.6 million from the UK Government. They had to do it bigger and better, and they centralised it. The result, of course, is that none of the money is getting to the Western Isles. Only 324 of the nearly 13,000 households there—3%—have received support, and another 337 have been turned down. The picture in Scotland is no better: there have been 13,900 applications, but only 7,000 have been declared eligible, and there are 169,000 households in Scotland that rely on heating oil, most of them in rural areas. Instead of bleating about the mid-term elections or what the Budget can do for them, I think SNP Members should do what I have done: write to the Scottish Minister and ask for the eligibility rules for heating oil support to be expanded to take into account rurality, isolation and insularity, and for a reduction in the 500-litre minimum order, because some households cannot afford 500 litres. We call on the Scottish Government to extend the criteria to take in rurality and insularity, and to ensure that this money gets out the door.
Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)Liberal Democrat
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. When I led a debate on heating oil in April, constituents were being asked to find extraordinary sums just to keep warm. Seven months on, that problem remains. More than 10,000 homes in North Norfolk rely entirely on heating oil. One constituent’s delivery has risen from £800 to £1,400, and others have seen the price jump from 55p to £1.34 a litre in just two months. Households have to find all that money at once; they cannot just put 20 quid’s worth in the tank and hope it gets them through the week. We know that these extraordinary price rises are a direct consequence of Donald Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, cheered on by Reform and the Conservatives, and ordinary households in North Norfolk are left paying the price. That is why I will not stop calling for a heating oil price cap. I welcome the Government’s response to the CMA investigation and their commitment to stronger regulation, but regulation alone will not protect people from the next price shock. Gas and electricity customers have a cap, but my constituents do not, simply because they live beyond the gas grid. The Government have ruled it out, but I ask the Minister to please reconsider that. In the meantime, there is something that the Treasury could do now. One constituent’s bill has more than doubled, and VAT is still added on top. For months, I have called for VAT to be removed, as my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said. That would be about 50 quid back in my constituent’s pocket. It would not solve everything, but it would ease the pressure on households facing a huge up-front bill, so I again ask whether the Minister will take that to the Chancellor. People in North Norfolk accept that rural life brings challenges, but they should not have to accept being punished financially for it. I hope the Minister recognises that today.
Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I have heard from constituents in the rural parts of Cannock Chase that they often feel forgotten in national discussions about energy, so I am grateful to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this debate. For people many in semi-rural constituencies such as mine, heating oil is often the only realistic means of heating their home. Last month, I held a coffee morning in Prospect Village and spoke to Ian and Linda, who are on oil. They told me that the price they were facing trebled over a single weekend. Although they recognise that the cost of crude oil is outside our control, households on oil are effectively left to the mercy of market forces, which is why we need greater regulation in the market. I very much welcome the Government’s plans to introduce that for the first time. I am glad that minimum delivery quantities are being looked at; as has been said, that will help households to manage the massive up-front costs of heating oil. The present situation underlines why we must accelerate the transition to clean and affordable energy, generated in Britain, to cut our reliance on imports and strengthen our energy security. For rural communities, the transition must be practical, affordable and fair, and we must recognise that not all households are the same, so a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. The enhanced £9,000 heat pump grant for off-grid properties was introduced in recognition of the extra costs that many rural households face when moving away from heating oil. Heat pump uptake is still lower in rural areas, and the subsidy is due to expire at the end of this financial year. I hope the Minister will look carefully at extending it so that rural households have certainty about the help that will be available to them. My constituents Ian and Linda are keen to get off oil, but they need help to do so. To end where I started, we must ensure that the households we represent that are reliant on heating oil are not forgotten. As we make the transition, I hope Ministers will keep rural households at the forefront of their thinking. These families face unique challenges, but they deserve the same protection, certainty and security as every other household in the country.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)Conservative
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member from the very north of the highlands, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), for securing this important debate. Those of us who own an oil tank have all been there: that dreaded moment when we stick the upside down broomstick into the tank and pray that there is more oil in there than we know there actually is, because we know that means that a big bill is coming. And we put it off—as I did once, which resulted in us running out of oil on Christmas eve. The only occasion forgotten less by my wife is the time I forgot to get the septic tank emptied and it exploded on the public footpath down the side of our house—that was great for my electoral prospects. I am not alone in Fylde: nearly 10% of houses in my constituency are not connected to the national gas grid, and it is as high as 14% in areas such as Singleton and Greenhalgh.
Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)Conservative
In my constituency, a huge number of houses in the Worth valley are impacted by the lack of Government support with heating oil. Does my hon. Friend agree that there was a major missed opportunity in Labour’s Budget to look at the implications of reducing VAT on heating oil?
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. It was an opportunity missed. There are 4,765 houses in my constituency alone that are not connected to the grid. In Fylde, 28% of people are over 65, compared with a national constituency average of about 18%. That means we are dealing not just with rural isolation and rural poverty, but with the health and wellbeing of older people. As other Members have said, households with oil tanks often have septic tanks and other infrastructure that is far more costly to operate and maintain than being connected to the grid in the traditional way. That compounds the issues that are being felt now. As the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said, the funding the Government set aside works out at £35 per house. The average price of oil has gone up by about £1 per litre and the average home uses about 2,000 litres of oil, meaning that support covers less than 2% of the cost increase facing the average household. Many of my constituents have made that point to me. I encourage the Government to move faster and find more ways of supporting those people who are reliant on oil to heat their home, as the bills they face will be crippling over the winter period.
Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for bringing about this important debate. With the conflict in Iran and the blocking of the strait of Hormuz, the price of crude oil shot up, which directly impacted about 2,700 homes in my constituency. The UK Government provided £4.6 million of targeted support to be administered by the Scottish Government to help families, so it is disappointing to see that only half of that money has been spent. I call on the Scottish Government to urgently review the criteria and the process to get the Scottish emergency heating oil payment out. It has been far too slow to get to those who need it most. Since prices began to spike, I have heard deeply concerning accounts from families who budgeted for one price, only to find themselves facing skyrocketing costs after orders were cancelled and costs tripled. That has left too many of my constituents feeling held hostage by fuel suppliers in an unregulated market. I welcome the action taken by the Competition and Markets Authority to secure compensation for affected customers and to recommend stronger protections for heating oil users. I also welcome the removal of the 4% tariff on kerosene announced in the Budget last week. The Government and regulators must ensure that we have a robust and fair framework for families and businesses that rely on off-grid energy supplies. We need robust regulation and zero tolerance of companies that exploit their customers. Those who exploit heating oil consumers should face tough penalties and public scrutiny to ensure that my constituents get a fairer deal now and in the future.
Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)Scottish National Party
I congratulate the Member across the Moray Firth from me, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), on securing this debate. In Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, 44% of homes are off the gas grid, and over 60% rely directly on oil central heating—more than triple the Scottish national average and nearly six times the UK average. Across Scotland as a whole, 142,000 households depend on heating oil to keep warm, yet while grid-connected homes have an energy price cap, which in itself is going to see a huge increase, off-grid households have no such protection. Heating oil is an unregulated market, leaving consumers massively exposed to price volatility. When prices reached 123p per litre, an average household using 2,000 litres faced an annual bill of nearly £2,600—more than £869 higher than the main energy price cap, and that does not include electricity on top. A pensioner in Findhorn wrote to me after paying £1,205 for just 1,000 litres of kerosene, describing it as simply unsustainable. Pensioners with severe medical conditions report orders exceeding £900 per tank, forcing them to choose between heating their homes and buying basic essentials. Powers over energy market regulation and consumer protection remain with Westminster, yet Ministers refuse to institute price caps or regulate minimum delivery thresholds. That underscores a fundamental truth: Scotland is an energy-rich nation, yet under Westminster control, forgotten homes are left out in the cold.
Will the hon. Member give way?
No, I will finish. With independence, Scotland would take full control over energy market regulation, price caps and consumer protection, preventing such a crisis from happening in the first place.
Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan) (Lab)Labour
From homes and farms on the outskirts of Stirling to rural communities stretching towards Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, including Aberfoyle and north to Killin, and Crianlarich on the edge of the highlands, heating oil is not a lifestyle choice. It is the main source of warmth for thousands of households across my constituency, and many have contacted me, deeply worried about the sharp rise in heating oil prices and the impact on their household finances. Prices have more than doubled, placing enormous pressure on families, older people and some of the most vulnerable in our communities. Understandably, there is anger and frustration—frustration that households that are reliant on heating oil do not enjoy the same protections as those connected to the gas and electricity networks, and anger that this long-standing disparity is yet to be properly addressed. There is also a wider challenge that goes beyond the immediate pressures of heating oil prices. It is about fuel poverty, the particular circumstances of rural communities and how we deliver a fair and practical transition to cleaner and more affordable heating. The support available to households can be incredibly difficult to navigate. Across the four nations of the United Kingdom, we have different definitions of fuel poverty, different schemes and eligibility criteria, and a complicated mix of responsibilities among Governments and energy providers.
My hon. Friend is making a great speech. When it comes to delivering support, the system is complicated. In Scotland, it is centralised rather than delivered through councils, which means that less than half the £10 million of heating oil support has gone out the door to consumers. Does my hon. Friend agree that the money should have gone to local authorities and areas that would have more efficiently handled it?
As a former council leader, I can say that councils, regardless of their political colour, are crying out for the Scottish Government to recognise exactly what can be done if local authorities are empowered to deliver good local services—it does not happen enough. I hope that the SNP Government in Edinburgh realise they can do more to empower local communities through local authorities. How do the Government intend to work with the devolved Governments to deliver a more co-ordinated approach that recognises the particular challenges facing off-grid communities? We need targeted action that gives people greater protection today while helping them to move toward more affordable and sustainable heating in the future. Whether someone lives in Stirling, Aberfoyle or a remote home near Crianlarich, they deserve the same basic reassurance that they can afford to keep their home warm and will not be left behind in the energy transition.
Dr Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) (LD)Liberal Democrat
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.
David Smith (North Northumberland) (Lab)Labour
I commend the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this important debate. As the first missiles went into Iran, bills doubled for the households in my constituency that use heating oil—there are about 5,000 of them. It was a terrible moment, and I am really pleased that the Government stepped in with the £53 million we have been talking about. In March this year, £5 million was given to the Conservative-run Northumberland county council for the crisis and resilience fund, which can be used for heating oil. The CRF can be used for heating homes, but it is very opaque; it is unclear how that money is being used and how much has gone the door. I have been asking, and I have not yet got a clear understanding. I am pleased that Labour have provided further relief. They are providing £100 for energy bills for households in council tax bands A to D this winter. They are cutting the kerosene tariff—I will be chasing suppliers in my constituency to make sure they pass that on to consumers—boosting the boiler upgrade scheme, and so on. It is welcome that we are bringing in regulation to heating oil. All the responses we have heard today follow an important principle: do not mess with the market when it is working, and do not let the market mess with people when it is not—that is where we have to step in. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister: what if higher heating oil prices are here to stay? What can we do in the medium to long term? I welcome the short-term measures we are taking. Last year, I spoke to a development trust in Norham that wants to introduce a local grid in my constituency using renewables, solar and wind. Great British Energy, which I fully support, is supposed to support little communities like that. If we can circumvent this problem and get people off heating oil where possible, and if we can empower communities to have local grids, that is what we should be pursuing. Will the Minister say something about progress on that?
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)Democratic Unionist Party
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing the debate. In the brief two minutes I have, I will speak about the situation in Northern Ireland. I remind the House of a stark, unyielding reality: for the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, the energy price cap is a complete myth. The official statistics tell a story of systematic vulnerability: 5% of households in Great Britain rely on domestic oil heating, but 63% of households in Northern Ireland depend entirely on oil central heating. In the rural community of Strangford, where I live, dependency skyrockets to an astonishing 82%. I doubt that there is anywhere else in the United Kingdom where the figure is 82%. In Strangford and the Ards peninsula, people cannot flick a switch and rely on a regulated utility grid; instead, they are forced to watch the price of a drop of kerosene like a hawk. When the price of crude spikes, off-grid families face an immediate, brutal financial penalty. In a matter of just three weeks, we watched the average cost of 500 litres of home heating oil almost double. What does that mean for a working family, small farmer or pensioner in Strangford? They are looking at an up-front lump-sum demand of more than £1,000 just to keep the radiators warm. If they cannot find the cash, they are left with an empty tank and a freezing home.
There is a perception that a lot of the households on oil are rich or in large houses, but in rural communities a lot of the houses that depend on oil are actually smaller properties, where there is rural poverty and isolation.
The hon. Gentleman is right. The Minister will be listening to the facts. In Northern Ireland, fuel poverty stands at 22%—nearly a quarter of the population. Our people are being disproportionately punished simply because of where they live. We need an urgent, comprehensive strategy that bridges the gap between off-grid rural communities and the rest of the United Kingdom. I implore the Minister and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to work urgently with the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver sustained structural protections. We must ensure that a child growing up in rural Strangford is afforded the same basic right to a warm home as a child living in metropolitan London.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. In my constituency, 3,603 households are not on the gas grid, and rely on either heating oil or alternative fuel for their heating. One Belton resident who recently contacted me lives in an older house that is not connected to the mains network. They rely entirely on oil to heat their home. A year ago, it cost £864 plus VAT to fill up their heating oil tank. This year, they were quoted £1,700 plus VAT—almost double. Traditionally, households have tried to manage the costs by filling their tanks in September, when prices are often at their lowest, but prices this high mean that, even with careful planning and budgeting, the money only goes so far. A full tank will last my constituent only till the end of January, before winter is even over, and they will then face another, potentially even higher bill. My constituent said that this is simply impossible to afford on their household income. The price has doubled, but their income has not. They are not protected by the energy price cap. Rather than being able to spread the cost across monthly payments, they have to find thousands of pounds up front to cover the uncapped cost. I welcome the Government’s recognition of the particular challenges facing heating oil customers, including through their recent of announcement of plans to introduce stronger consumer protections. Heating a home is not a luxury; it is a necessity. People should not face additional financial insecurity simply because they live in a rural community without access to the mains gas network. I would welcome the Minister’s thoughts on how we can ensure that households across Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, including the one I just mentioned in Belton, will benefit from the proposed improvements to consumer protections, particularly when it comes to managing the substantial up-front cost of heating oil.
Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)Green Party
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. During the autumn recess I had the opportunity to tour villages in my constituency. Heating oil costs were the issue that came up time and again. Over 30% of households in Waveney Valley are off the gas grid—the highest percentage of any constituency in the east of England. As many hon. Members have said, heating oil is unique because, unlike households that use mains gas and electricity, heating oil users are not protected by the energy price cap and are therefore exposed to global energy shocks, geopolitics and market volatility. Hon. Members have all heard cases of people having to choose between heating and eating, and of pensioners and children going to bed at night cold. That simply cannot be right in 2026. We cannot allow large swathes of our citizens to have to make, at the whim of Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, that choice between heating and eating. The Government’s response so far has not been adequate. As we have heard, the £53 million that was invested last April amounts to only £35 extra for each household. That hardly scratches the surface. Even scrapping VAT on heating oil, which would be welcome, would save only £50 for a £1,000 purchase. What do we need most? First, regulation of prices in the sector; secondly, far more significant assistance through councils, which are having to stretch the funding they are given further and further; thirdly, as other hon. Members have said, proper investment in home insulation measures. Announcements in last week’s Budget that seemed to suggest cuts to the warm homes plan take us in the wrong direction. We also need investment in things such as renewable heating systems that can work in rural communities. Those green measures are essential but they are, of course, not enough for this winter. Efforts to reduce costs and to help people right now are absolutely needed.
Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this debate. The cost of heating oil has been very much at the forefront of the minds of my South West Norfolk constituents over the last seven months. Some 25% of homes in my constituency rely on heating oil; that is thousands of properties. The sudden increase in price left many in a desperate situation. My constituents, like the constituents of many hon. Members in this debate, are already paying a rural premium, given the additional costs linked to rurality. I was pleased that the Government responded quickly with the £53 million national support package. In Norfolk we got a larger share of that package than any other county council in the country, with more than £3 million for our county. However, I am furious that Reform-led Norfolk county council has barely lifted a finger to promote that support service. I have looked at the council’s social media and could barely find mention of the fact that the fund is available. My team and I have been working flat out to encourage people to apply. Many people in Norfolk who rely on heating oil are in the west of the county, and we are particularly affected.
Sean Woodcock (Banbury) (Lab)Labour
Some 11% of my constituents in Banbury rely on heating oil. Like my hon. Friend, they welcomed the £53 million provided by the Government. In our case, Oxfordshire county council has also done very little to make people aware of that money. Does my hon. Friend agree that national and local government need to do more to make people aware of the help that is already out there for people who rely on heating oil?
The Oxfordshire example is a huge shame. It seems that there are many examples around the country. There is money sat waiting in council bank accounts that could be put to use to support local people.
Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a devolutionary lesson here? When money is handed out from Departments, there must be transparency and accountability from devolved Governments such as that of Scotland, from councils and from local authorities?
I am sure that the Minister will reflect on my hon. Friend’s point. There absolutely needs to be learning from this process. This is a desperate situation. The money needed to be spent quickly and here we are, months later, with it sat in bank accounts, not being used. Andrew, one of my constituents, lives in Welney, a very small village in my constituency. At the time of the crisis his wife was going through breast cancer. He was completely unaware that the help was available. We managed to get him £350-worth of support. I hope that, in her response, the Minister can talk more about what the Government can do to pressure councils to get that money out the door to help my constituents and those of other hon. Members in this Chamber.
Order. I remind Members that we are on a tight timeline. It is up to colleagues if they wish to accept interventions, but they may want to be mindful of that.
Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)Liberal Democrat
When heating oil prices go up, rural communities across Yeovil really feel the impact, yet as Trevor from Hardington Mandeville and many other constituents pointed out, the Chancellor did little to nothing to support heating oil issues. Heather put it best: “The weather is getting colder and yet again people in rural communities seem to be forgotten.” Many constituents have also written to me about how the biggest impact of heating oil cost rises comes from minimum-value orders. Residents have described having to order 500 litres at a time, which is totally unaffordable. I have also heard from residents in Haselbury Plucknett and North Perrott who are facing fuel poverty yet still do not qualify for Government support. As a result, they are having to dramatically cut usage, but being pushed to use less misses the bigger point. When prices are so high and there is no particular alternative to heating oil, there is only so much people can do before it begins impacting their quality of life, particularly over the winter. Catherine from Chard’s last order cost her just shy of £2,000 for 1,500 litres. Both Catherine and her tenant are retired and would have liked to have kept the heating off and worn jumpers to save money. But Catherine says she cannot do that as her tenant is struggling to recover from a stroke, and she refuses to risk their health to save money on bills. Their property is off grid and upgrades are difficult or impossible without serious work. Too many heating oil users like Catherine are stuck between a rock and a hard place and need Government support. I hope the Government will look to improve targeted support so that struggling constituents in Yeovil are not left out. If the Government really want to give rural communities breathing space, we need a price cap for heating oil. Rural communities simply cannot afford to bear the rising cost of heating oil any longer. It is all well and good having No. 10 North, but what we really need is No. 10 rural.
Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)Labour (Co-op)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this debate. In Truro and Falmouth, 5,000 homes are off the grid. Like others, I welcome the £53 million of support and the regulation of the market for the first time. Similarly to other councils, Cornwall council was given £1.53 million and is handing it out in pockets of £300 for people who get council tax support. However, only £402,000 has been handed out so far. The council is doing a second round of funding and putting it into the crisis and resilience fund, but people need to know that is available. We need to push that out further. In Kehelland village in Cornwall we have piloted hydrotreated vegetable oil—a renewable fuel that is not from the middle east. It simply needs technical consultation with heating oil suppliers and a statutory instrument for that renewable fuel obligation to be rolled out in a similar way to how it is for transport. That could really help. Many villagers in Kehelland are pleased with what they are getting and would like to see it rolled out further. The warm homes plan will of course help people move to renewables, but in Cornwall, many houses are listed properties or in conservation areas and people struggle to make differences to their homes that will enable them to keep the heat in and make the use of the warm homes adaptations.
Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)Plaid Cymru
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. First, let me say to the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden) that we have all been there, but we use a runner bean stick rather than an upturned broom. The cost of heating oil is a major issue for my constituents in Caerfyrddin, and I welcome the Government’s decision to include off-grid households in the £100 energy support payment, which has been implemented by the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government. Unfortunately, most rural homes are not in bands A to D. In Wales, heating oil prices have risen by 103% since January, increasing the annual cost from £605 to £1,620. Rural communities are bearing the brunt of those increases. I ask the Government for more support with those costs. Will they consider reducing VAT on domestic heating oil to provide direct and immediate relief to households, as others have asked? In the long term, we need to ensure that schemes that support the transition away from oil heating are properly funded, as the majority of rural homes are pre 1910 and cladding is not an effective option. I am proud that Caerfyrddin ranks 16th in the UK for heat pump uptake, demonstrating that households are willing to make the transition when support is available. The MCS Foundation has warned that if installations continue at their current rate, next year’s budget could be exhausted within six months, and with the off-grid boiler upgrade scheme grants due to fall from £9,000 to £7,500 in the next financial year, it is vital that households are made aware that applications must be submitted before 31 March to secure a full grant. Too often, rural communities are an afterthought in energy policy. The reality is that families who have no access to the gas grid are paying the highest prices to stay warm this winter. Rural communities, including those in Wales, need action now.
Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I commend the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing such an important and timely debate. It is a pleasure, as always, to stand alongside my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), as well. I want to start by speaking about a family who work four jobs between them, a tenant who cannot insulate her own home because she does not own it, two pensioners who do not qualify for further support, and a full-time worker on a modest salary. In rural communities, those are the people who are used to falling through the cracks and who are used to the system simply not working for them. I have limited time, so I want to focus on what I would like to see the Government do: that is, to consider rural communities when making policy. For far too long, possibly because of the complacency with which some of these communities were represented by their constituency MPs in the past, rural areas were not particularly advocated for. I urge the Minister to consider in particular the importance of protecting those consumers and of doing what the Conservatives never did in government: to look at fixing the roof while we can. We must fix things before the crisis occurs and a time-sensitive decision is needed. I want to praise the Government for seeing a problem and taking swift and immediate action. When the missiles started flying in the strait of Hormuz, it was a matter of days rather than months before money was committed, but the Government need to think about future crises and what we can do to avert them. I welcome the points made by colleagues on decarbonising houses. It is an open question. I urge the Minister to find ways to support rural households, as well as the businesses and community spaces that communities rely on. They might be off grid, but they must not be shut out.
Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)Liberal Democrat
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Barker. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone)—my dear friend—for securing this important debate. In North East Fife, about 14.6% of households are off the gas grid. It is not as remote as my hon. Friend’s, but it is a rural constituency. I want to share the experience of one of my constituents that illustrates the reality facing many households today. My constituent uses an electric heater in her daughter’s bedroom rather than turning on the boiler in order to preserve her remaining oil supply for hot water. Her energy costs mean that she has less money to spend on her overall costs, and she is now building up a credit card debt that she is trying to service. She told me: “I can’t take my daughter to visit her grandparents because I have to ration fuel for school runs and food shopping. I make excuses because I’m too embarrassed to admit I can’t afford the 80-mile round trip.” No family should be forced to make choices like those. I have met with Ministers to discuss the impact not only of heating oil prices but of the rising costs of liquefied petroleum gas and red diesel. That is creating additional pressures for rural households, farmers and local businesses. I agree with other Members that while immediate support is essential, we need to focus on long-term solutions. The answer to helping people to cope with high-energy costs cannot simply be to mitigate those costs; we need to do things permanently. That is one of the reasons why my Scottish Lib Dem colleagues in Holyrood, and indeed colleagues in Westminster, continue to advocate for an emergency home upgrade programme. I have to say, however, that constituents’ experiences with schemes such as energy company obligation 4 are really damaging and have eroded consumer confidence in making the move to more zero carbon, zero emission and better heating. Older homes need to be heated to be maintained. It is a real challenge for people. We need to reduce that reliance in the longer term because, as we have heard, families across North East Fife and other rural constituencies absolutely deserve better.
Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)Labour
My constituency covers St Austell bay, the clay country and Newquay, and it contains many households who are not connected to the gas grid and remain heavily reliant on heating oil. For those families, fluctuations such as those we have seen in oil prices can have a very stark impact on household budgets, particularly through the winter months. We need a practical solution and a transition towards cleaner heating. I know that switching to a heat pump like the one I have in my home will not be right for everyone, but for those who do wish to go down that route, substantial support is available, including the £7,500 boiler upgrade scheme and the warm homes loans, which should go some way to dealing with what is sometimes, but certainly not always, a significant up-front cost. For now, there is of course the 4% tariff abolition. I will follow the lead of my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) and ensure, with local companies, that those savings are passed through to the consumer. We will need to push the Minister for crucial industry reforms, such as a reduction in minimum order volumes. I would like to hear whether the much-needed Government crisis and resilience fund, which previously gave £53 million to users of heating oil, can be extended, and whether more similar support can be given to councils. If so, I would like to see our local council in Cornwall ensure it reaches a broader base of users. I know there is more to do, such as greater support for insulation and solutions that work for off-grid homes. Clean liquid fuel such as HVO can play a huge role, as we have heard. I am interested to hear the Minister’s view on how to support those fuels and what steps the Government can take to provide additional support for heating oil users right now.
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)Liberal Democrat
I congratulate my southern neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on securing time for today’s debate. Orkney and Shetland have the highest levels of fuel poverty of any community in the country. I have heard colleagues complain about having a number of homes with no access to the gas grid. I share their pain, but we have absolutely no homes connected to the mains gas grid. That is something of a bitter irony because, for the past 40 to 50 years, the gas that has heated homes in the rest of the United Kingdom has for the most part landed in either Shetland or Orkney, only to be shipped south. When we heard the Chancellor last week in the Budget abolish standing charges for gas but not electricity customers, that felt like another kick in the teeth. Given the shortness of time, I have a few asks of the Minister today. When will we see the extension of the abolition of standing charges for electricity as well as gas? Those not relying on heating oil, rely largely on electric storage heating. When will we see meaningful regulation of the heating oil market? At the very least, that regulation should include a reduction in minimum orders and introduction of a price cap, which would allow some certainty in budgeting for those who rely on heating oil. Finally, as we move towards reliance on renewable energy, when will we see a meaningful package for community benefit and assistance with bills, so that those who live in the shadow of pylons and turbines are given access to the cheaper electricity they desperately need?
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Ind)Independent
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing the debate. In my remote coastal constituency of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, more than 5,500 homes rely on heating oil as their only source of central heating. In villages such as Kehelland, Mawnan Smith and Port Navas, it is closer to half. I warmly welcome the two-year kerosene tariff suspension announced in the Budget, alongside the previous Chancellor’s £53 million crisis and resilience fund for low-income households, and plans to strengthen consumer protections and tackle price gouging. For many, heat pumps are an answer, but they are rarely practical or cost-effective for older off-grid remote homes. Fortunately, Cornwall has part of the answer. As mentioned, residents in Kehelland have been trialling the use of HVO for the past five years. A 20% HVO blend can reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%, while cutting consumption by around 18%, without a costly retrofit for a heat pump. The legislation already exists for a renewable liquid heating fuel obligation, which would enable HVO to be deployed at scale, but we still await the necessary technical consultation. I therefore urge Ministers to examine the Kehelland trial in depth, to reassure themselves that the supply issue they have imagined does not exist, and to set out specifically what further evidence is required, so that HVO can be realised as a low-carbon, efficient option for remote off-grid homes.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)Liberal Democrat
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Barker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on securing this important debate. Since March this year I, like many Members, have been inundated with pleas from my constituents, including 79-year-old Barbara from Launceston, who said: “Will the Government please do something about the soaring prices of heating oil? I already can’t afford to put fuel in my car. If things don’t change,” she is not sure how she will make it through this winter. In some of the most rural parts of North Cornwall, in villages such as St Breward and Blisland that surround Bodmin moor, up to 97% of households are completely off the mains gas grid. The cost of their heating oil per tank has gone from around £400 up to around £1,200 or even £1,500. Many also rely on liquefied petroleum gas, with no specific support or targeted support outlined so far. They often have no option to switch to a cheaper provider, and when the cold sets in, as it is right now, many face a long and perilous winter of damp and freezing cold. Finally, in the words of an elderly constituent from Nanstallon: “Many elderly folk like us, who have lived off grid all their lives, cannot afford solar panels or heat exchangers—we are stuck with oil and LPG.” Will the Minister please address our concerns and our calls for a price cap on heating oil and LPG, for a free month with zero VAT on heating oil and, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) already said, the removal of standing charges on electricity, as well as extra support for rural households to insulate and upgrade their homes?
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)Liberal Democrat
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair this afternoon, Mrs Barker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on securing this debate and on his tireless work on behalf of the off-grid households in his constituency. I thank all right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken today. The issue is not just a highlands problem, or even a Somerset problem. It is a problem for all rural households across the UK. Around 1.4 million homes are off the gas grid, and many of them have no choice but to heat their homes with oil. The war in Iran and Donald Trump’s reckless trade wars have sent shock after shock through global energy markets. This week, at the mid-term elections, the American people rejected the politics of division and voted for hope. They also rejected a President whose answer to every energy question is, “Drill, baby, drill”, and who pulled America out of the Paris climate agreement. But a weakened President is not a more predictable one and rural households here are still desperately exposed. Since the war in Iran began, the price of heating oil has risen by around 80%, and yet not one of the 1.4 million households is protected by Ofgem’s energy price cap. The result is a two-tier energy system: one set of rules for homes on the gas grid and another for rural Britain. Behind the figures are real families facing a very difficult winter. A household on mains gas pays as it goes, protected by a price cap with a regulator to turn to. A household on heating oil has none of that. They have to pay in bulk, often many hundreds of pounds in a single bill just as winter sets in, so families are forced to make impossible choices. They heat one room and close off the rest. They go to bed early just to keep warm, or they put off ordering and run the risk of their tank running dry. Too often rural Britain is an afterthought when policy is made, and heating oil is yet another example of that. Phil and Jenny, who live in North Barrow, paid 77p a litre in February. They are now paying nearly double that and cannot afford to heat their home this winter. The Government have announced three measures on energy costs. Not one of them properly reaches a home like theirs. The first is removing unfair standing charges; that is the right thing to do, but it does nothing about the cost of heating oil. The second is removing tariffs on kerosene. Again, that is welcome, but the UK trade policy observatory at the University of Sussex has found that 83% of kerosene imports already come into Britain tariff-free. So, I ask the Minister: will she publish the Department’s own estimate of how much this tariff cut will save a rural household? The third measure is the £100 rebate that was announced last week. Any help is welcome, but will rural households actually get it? Oil-heated homes tend to be bigger, older and harder to heat, and many fall outside the scope of the rebate altogether. How many households that are reliant on heating oil does the Minister expect will receive the rebate? This is a two-tier system, so will the Minister commit that every future energy support scheme is properly rural-proofed, with a published assessment of how many off-grid homes it will reach? My constituent Jill is a pensioner who lives in Horsington. She is the legal guardian of her grand-daughter and, apart from child benefit, she receives absolutely no help at all. She wrote to me recently to tell me that she cannot afford to fill her oil tank, so her grand-daughter will be coming home from school to a cold house. Following pressure from the Liberal Democrats, and from many other hon. and right hon. Members present, £53 million of support was made available in March. However, that equates to about £35 per home, so that support was really limited, and delivery through local councils has created a postcode lottery for rural households. Will the Minister publish details about how much of that £53 million has been spent and by which councils? Will any unspent money be topped up and reallocated before the coldest months arrive? Heating oil is only one part of a wider cost of living crisis in the countryside. The rural premium means that rural households spend 10% to 20% more on everyday essentials. With few buses and longer journeys in rural areas, a car is not a luxury; it is a lifeline. Rural households already face a fuel poverty gap of £987 compared with households in towns and cities. Many rural communities have found their own way to fight back, through oil clubs and consortia. Across the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency, oil-buying clubs are a lifeline for rural communities. By clubbing together and placing one combined order, they secure customers a better price and a more reliable service, and in addition fewer tankers need to travel along our rural lanes. However, that only works if suppliers honour the price they quote. When the war in Iran began, some suppliers refused to honour quoted prices or to quote a price at all, so oil clubs were forced to suspend trading just when households needed them most. The Competition and Markets Authority found that around 1,700 customers had orders cancelled, and many were forced to reorder at higher prices or simply go without. I welcome the Government’s decision to accept the CMA’s recommendations: a code of conduct now and a new regulatory regime to follow. However, will the Minister set out a clear timescale, so that rural families and oil clubs are protected this winter, not next winter? I believe the CMA got one thing badly wrong: its decision not to recommend a price cap. It argued that a cap could reduce competition, but in too many rural areas there is very little competition to protect. On the Isle of Wight, for example, households have just one supplier. Where there is no competition, a price cap does not damage the market; it protects the consumer. Will the Minister commit to zero-rating VAT on heating oil for three months and to a price cap mechanism that protects off-grid homes this winter? Emergency support must get families through this winter, but without urgent action on how rural homes are heated, we will be debating this same crisis every winter, and rural families will keep paying the price. As long as our rural homes depend on imported oil, they will be at the mercy of global events, whether that is the war in the middle east or the decisions of a volatile President, which can drive up the price of filling an oil tank in Somerset overnight. Energy security is national security, which means speeding up the transition to renewable energy—the cheapest and cleanest new power, which is generated right here in Britain. For rural households, it means an affordable way of getting off heating oil, but by July, the warm homes local grant had upgraded just 5,470 homes—0.1% of its target. Yet last week’s Budget cut £1 billion from warm homes plan grants. The Liberal Democrats would instead deliver a 10-year emergency home upgrades programme, starting with free insulation for low-income households. Will the Minister ensure that the new home energy model properly reflects older, off-grid rural homes, so that they are not wrongly assessed and shut out of support? In an unstable world, rural households face a cost of living crisis, and they cannot be treated as second tier again this winter. I have three asks of the Minister. First, will she publish the figures on what the tariff cut will really save rural households? Secondly, will she zero-rate VAT on heating oil for three months and introduce a price cap mechanism for off-grid homes this winter? Thirdly, will she reverse the cuts to the warm homes plan and give rural households an affordable route off heating oil? Rural Britain has been an afterthought for far too long this winter. The Government have a choice: stand with rural households or leave them out in the cold.
Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)Conservative
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this important debate and for his thoughtful and eloquent speech. We have had a good debate this afternoon, which has highlighted the additional costs that fall upon our rural communities. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden) for his contribution, and I trust that he will not forget to top up his tank before Christmas. The hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) highlighted the need for local councils to take a proactive approach to getting Government money out the door as quickly as possible. It seems that some councils are not doing that terribly effectively. About 1.4 million households across the UK rely on heating oil, predominantly in rural areas, including many in my constituency. For those households, using heating oil is not a choice. Most are not connected to the mains gas network and have little practical alternative when it comes to heating their homes. They face particular challenges. They are exposed to unpredictable delivery costs and the burden of paying hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds, up front to fill their oil tanks. Many are older and more vulnerable households, which simply cannot absorb sudden price shocks. Recent international developments have demonstrated just how exposed those households have become. Disruption to oil supplies and shipping routes drove up household prices, with consequences quickly felt here in the UK. Households that had been paying £300 for 500 litres of heating oil suddenly faced quotes of between £600 and £1,000. For many families, that was simply unaffordable. The Conservatives raised these concerns with the Government at the time and, after rather too much delay, some support was eventually provided through the crisis and resilience fund. While welcome, it addressed the consequences rather than the cause of the problem. That is why the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation was so important. Following reports of cancelled orders, sudden price increases and demands for additional payments, the CMA identified significant concerns in the way that parts of the market were operating. The CMA intervened where suppliers may have breached contractual obligations by cancelling orders after prices surged, and secured compensation for affected customers. I welcome that intervention. However, investigations after the damage has already been done do not fix the issue. I know that the Minister will refer to the Government’s intention to regulate the heating oil sector. I welcome the fact that action is finally being considered, but households deserve more than good intentions. Can the Minister tell us when the Government expect to implement the CMA’s recommendations and when consumers can expect to see tangible improvements? What timetable has been set for the Government’s work on price transparency and consumer choice, and when will Parliament be updated on the progress? Those questions matter because winter does not wait for reviews, assessments or consultations. Some of the announcements in the Budget may have sounded impressive on the day, but for many households they will hardly be noticed. There may be £100 for certain households, but when some people’s energy bills are set to rise by more than £500, many will reasonably ask, “What was the point?” It is clear, however, that the Chancellor has at least noticed the Conservatives’ cheap power plan. Cutting VAT and scrapping carbon levies on energy bills—I find myself wondering where he might have got those ideas from. The broader problem is that the Government appear more interested in managing the consequences of high energy prices than in addressing their causes.
On the hon. Member’s point about managing consequences, I welcome his positivity about the things that the Government are doing, but does he agree that it was a terrible idea for the last Government to abandon the UK’s gas storage in 2015?
That is a complicated issue, because of course the cost of managing Rough would have meant a levy on gas bills, so it is not quite the easy solution that the hon. Member proposes. It is not as if gas storage automatically reduces all gas bills; in the long term, it may actually lead to higher costs for gas consumers. It is an important issue, but that is not the simple fix that the hon. Member claims. The United Kingdom possesses significant oil and gas resources, world-class expertise and a highly skilled workforce, yet key decisions continue to be delayed. The decision on Jackdaw, for example, was delayed for months. I wonder why. Could it possibly have been an inconvenient by-election in Holborn and St Pancras? The future of Rosebank remains uncertain. Time and again, Ministers have chosen hesitation over action. Good policy is not simply making an announcement; it is having a plan, delivering that plan and achieving results. That is the test by which households reliant on heating oil will judge this Government: are their energy bills lower? For millions of people, this debate is not about regulation or market design; it is about whether they can afford to keep their homes warm this winter. Rural families should not be disadvantaged simply because they live beyond the gas grid. Affordable energy should not depend on someone’s postcode, and far too often this Government forget our rural communities. The Government talk repeatedly about managing expensive energy. That is not enough. People do not want expensive energy to be managed; they want energy to be made affordable. Let us therefore have clear deadlines, measurable commitments and action, not an obsession with process. If Ministers cannot tell households when they will feel the benefit of those reforms, all they are offering is more process and more delay. Families facing another winter of high costs cannot afford to wait. Those households need lower bills, warmer homes and a Government focused on making energy cheaper.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ms Polly Billington)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank everybody who has spoken in the debate, and indeed their correspondents and constituents, for raising the issue of heating oil and the powerful ways in which they have conveyed it here in this Chamber. It will be of little comfort to those people that the situations that I hear about in my own correspondence regarding heating oil keep me awake at night. The reality is that, for far too many families in this country, our exposure to the global energy crisis is felt most strongly by people who simply thought that this was the way they would be able to heat their homes for good. That change is a profound and difficult transition for them, which we as a Government have a responsibility to support them through. Others have mentioned those 1.5 million homes and talked about the thousands of people affected in their own constituencies, and we recognise those particular challenges. It is worth while, however, thinking about how we are addressing that in the context of the wider global energy crisis and the efforts that we have already made. This is an extremely difficult international backdrop. Some Members have mentioned how hopeful they are because of the midterm results overnight, but I tell this Chamber that, even if there were to be a full and complete ceasefire in Iran now, we would not see a return to the comparatively low prices we had before. Half of the recessions since 1973 have been caused by fossil fuel shocks. I have enormous respect for the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox), but if we are to protect these families in the future, we need to get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster, not simply talk about drilling more—anywhere at all, frankly. Oil and gas will continue to be part of our energy mix for some time to come, but continuing to allow these families to be exposed to the fossil fuel rollercoaster would be a dereliction of duty. That is why it is so important that we have committed to the boiler upgrade scheme, for example. I slightly correct my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Noah Law), as the scheme actually provides £9,000 for off-grid homes. The last quarter saw a 120% increase from this time last year in the number of people applying. That indicates that people can see that, if they want to reduce their exposure to the appalling consequences of this fossil fuel crisis, the best thing to do is to take advantage of the scheme and adopt cleaner heat technology. I reassure those colleagues who mentioned that the housing stock in their communities is possibly not suitable. The Department has done a significant amount of work on this, and it suggests that more than 90% of households will be suitable for heat pumps. That will include many of the households that are currently exposed. This is not, in any way, shape or form, enough on its own. We have an emergency, bearing in mind that it is early November.
I mentioned the ECO4 scheme. I accept the Minister’s statistics on suitability for heat pumps, but one of the key challenges is that we have few fully qualified tradespeople capable of carrying out this work. That is why my constituents have been left with completely substandard work when they have tried to implement changes.
I am sure the hon. Lady will agree that it would be helpful if the Scottish Government understood the importance of devolving the responsibilities for this kind of thing to local government in Scotland, and ensuring that local government has the skills, powers and potential to deliver the jobs and skills that will be required. That is part of our commitment under the warm homes plan. I would like to see that fully implemented in co-operation—I believe in problem solving, not point scoring—with our partners north of the border. It is important to think about this in the context of the other things we have done. The £100 household energy payment will be made to everyone with a house in council tax bands A to D from January, and 19% of those homes—that is 3.9 million—are in rural areas. The idea that this will not reach those people is not true. Remember that the temporary zero VAT rate on domestic electricity will extend to 98% of people who use heating oil, because they are also on the electricity grid. That will benefit them.
The Minister has just quoted the number of houses in council tax bands A to D in rural areas. Does she know how many of those houses are not connected to the grid? We need to know whether these are people in small houses in villages, or whether the measure is actually getting to the people who use heating oil.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to clarify that 19% of the people who will qualify are in rural communities and off grid. I am pleased that they will benefit. Remember also that everybody who is on the electricity grid will benefit from the reduced policy costs on bills, which is worth £150. We have also extended the warm home discount, a £150 rebate for people on means-tested benefits, to 6 million households. These are not inconsequential efforts in taking some of the pressure off people and creating the breathing space that is required.
I thank the Minister for her comprehensive and confident approach to the questions. She is right that this is about solutions—life is about solutions. I mentioned that 82% of my rural community need oil to survive, so they are greatly impacted by this. The Minister and the Government have given some help, but when such a large proportion of my constituency, and 65% of households across Northern Ireland, entirely depend on heating oil, do they have any other ideas for how help and alleviation can be given to those who entirely depend on heating oil?
We have allocated £17 million to Northern Ireland for precisely the reason that so many people there depend on heating oil. It is also important to make sure that the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive take up the opportunity to shift and accelerate people away from dependence on heating oil by using schemes similar to the boiler upgrade scheme that we have in England and Wales. A lot of Members talked about the Competition and Markets Authority recommendations, and how we are accepting the recommendation to regulate. This is a long time coming. I remind the hon. Member for Bridgwater that we had an oil crisis when his party was in charge, and there was neither a decision to call in the CMA nor a decision to regulate. In fact, people who have been involved in energy campaigning and strategy for a long time are saying, “Thank goodness! This has been decades in the making.” The fact we have not had regulation in this space has caused significant problems for decades. Through the Energy Independence Bill, which has been published today, we will be able to bring forward a new general authorisation regime to take the powers needed to bring heating oil within a proportionate regulatory framework and to strengthen protections for consumers, particularly vulnerable households. It will take time to get that regulation right, and I am sure that hon. Friends and colleagues will be aware that there are large risks in regulating at speed unless we are absolutely clear that we have ironed out all the potential risks. For this winter, we need to ensure that there is voluntary co-operation with the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association and the Northern Ireland Oil Federation to ensure that providers sign up to voluntary codes of conduct and behave properly this winter. Remember, it was the Competition and Markets Authority that enforced and secured compensation for consumers who ended up either having their orders cancelled or being charged excessively at the beginning of this conflict. That is the kind of regulation we need to see in future, and I am keen that we will be able to do that, including on minimum order volumes, which Members have talked about, and payment schemes. It is unconscionable that, for electricity, one can have a fixed tariff, a direct debit or a prepayment meter, if they are really struggling, yet people on heating oil cannot manage things in the same way. I am extraordinarily grateful to everybody who has contributed to debate today. I am conscious of time, and I want the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) to be able to sum up, but I assure people that the concerns of rural communities around heating oil, exposure to the fossil fuel rollercoaster and the global energy crisis are absolutely at the forefront of my mind as the Energy Minister for consumers. It is absolutely essential that we establish an energy market that works for people. Notwithstanding the particular things that are helping at the moment, in the long term we will reform the energy retail market not only for those on heating oil but for everyone, so that we can benefit from the clean energy we are generating ourselves and give ourselves resilience and security that we have not previously had because of our exposure to fossil fuel shocks.
It is most encouraging, to be absolutely honest, to see a Minister who seems to be on top of her brief—a generally good impression has been made. I thank each and every hon. and right hon. Member who has spoken. The collective discussion we have had today advances our cause in the right direction. That is one of the better things we do in this place, and I hope people watching this debate will take some comfort from it. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the impact of heating oil prices on rural areas.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5432189.