Cost of Heating Oil Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Julie Minns
Main Page: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)Department Debates - View all Julie Minns's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) on securing this important debate.
Across our rural communities and in villages such mine, including Inkberrow and Cookhill, many households are not connected to the mains gas grid and have no choice but to rely on heating oil. In recent weeks, my office has been inundated with emails from constituents facing what can only be described as outright price gauging: sharp, sudden increases in heating oil costs, often with little warning and no meaningful protection. The figures are not abstract; families are being asked to find hundreds of pounds up front just to heat their homes. That is the fundamental unfairness at the heart of the issue. Where someone lives should not determine whether they are protected.
I welcome the Government’s swift action in providing additional support through the crisis and resilience fund, enabling local councils to step in and support households facing immediate hardship. That will make a real difference in the short term, and I thank Ministers for listening. For some families that support will mean the difference between staying warm and going without heat. But we must be clear: emergency support, however welcome, is not a substitute for structural reform. That means a properly regulated off-grid energy market, greater transparency from suppliers—including real-time price publication—and serious consideration of a price cap on domestic heating oil and LPG.
Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the advantages of extending regulation to this market would be to introduce a requirement on the companies to maintain a priority service register, as is the case with the gas market, which would ensure that those companies could more easily identify which customers are vulnerable?