Cost of Heating Oil

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Wednesday 15th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) for securing this important and timely debate.

The ongoing cost of oil is a symptom of Trump’s idiotic war in Iran. Volatility in global energy markets and the lack of consumer protections for off-grid fuels have left many rural residents exposed to sharp price increases. It is leaving rural communities reeling, with many wondering how to heat their homes. The longer the crisis drags on, the greater the impact will be.

A third of homes in rural communities such as Glastonbury and Somerton are reliant on heating oil. Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw prices of heating oil spike up to almost 160p per litre. Last month, prices peaked at 134p per litre and still sit at around 120p, more than 100% higher than before the war. Despite the impact of this sharp price increase, no action was taken to shield rural communities from future price spikes, no price cap has been created like it has for on-grid homes, and there has been no protection from Ofgem. Instead, all we have is another temporary sticking plaster.

The Liberal Democrats were the first to call for action, demanding an immediate three-month zero-rating for VAT on heating of all residential homes and a price cap to protect them from sudden price increases. Although we welcome the additional £53 million of support announced last month, that equates to a meagre £35 per household. Organisations such as National Energy Action, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and Age UK agree that this limited funding support must go further.

Rural homes already cope with higher rates of fuel poverty, worse levels of energy efficiency and a fuel poverty gap of £987 compared with urban homes. Given that Glastonbury and Somerton has more households living in fuel poverty than the national average, any jump in oil and gas prices will result in further financial pressure. My constituents simply cannot afford that additional burden.

In the long term, we must consider how to support rural properties to transition away from oil and LPG as heating sources, so I hope that the Minister will be able to address that today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

Plastic waste is something that my colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs work on. I think my hon. Friend’s wider point is important. There is a global context to this—and sometimes that context might not actually be as it appears—which is that, when we look across the world, we see that countries are still acting on these issues. Why? Because they recognise that it is in their national interest economically and in the long term for future generations. There is no future if people bury their heads in the sand and say, “We’re not going to act.”

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

COP30 begins next month in Brazil. The UK must play a leading role on the world stage to tackle climate change. At home, however, Somerset council is hampered in its attempts to achieve net zero by an escalating financial crisis following the maladministration of its previous Conservative administration. What steps will the Minister and Cabinet colleagues take to support councils in their net zero transitions?

[Ed Miliband]

Part of what we are doing is devolving more of the funding around warm homes, for example, so that local authorities can play a leading role. I congratulate local authorities on the interest that they are taking in this. The hon. Lady raises the wider picture of COP30, which is important—this is a crucial moment. The UK has already shown leadership in the past 15 months, including by publishing our nationally determined contribution at COP29 last year.

State of Climate and Nature

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend puts it incredibly well. This is an obligation that we owe to young people. We hold the planet in trust for future generations. The young people of today speak for themselves, but they also speak for future generations. Frankly, we owe it to them to act when the evidence is before our eyes.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

The Met Office report and the Climate Change Committee have made it clear that we are unprepared for climate change, with progress on food security and nature restoration either insufficient or limited. The Lang partnership in Curry Rivel has proudly championed regenerative farming and nature-friendly farming methods for more than 30 years. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with his colleagues in DEFRA to ensure that farmers like the Langs can farm productively and sustainably and be resilient to climate crisis?

[Ed Miliband]

I congratulate the hon. Lady’s constituents on what they are doing to find regenerative ways of farming. My right hon. Friend the Environment Secretary takes the matter incredibly seriously, and we have structures in place that can help to incentivise that, but I think he would say that of course we need to do more on these issues. The hon. Lady has put it very eloquently.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

7. What steps he is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of homes.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

14. What steps he is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of homes.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

In 2025-26 alone we will upgrade up to 300,000 homes through the warm homes plan and other measures. That is more than double the number of homes upgraded last year. Later this year we will set out more detail of our warm homes plan to upgrade up to 5 million homes with energy-efficient technologies such as heat pumps, solar and insulation in order to deliver warmer homes and lower bills.

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Lady raises a really important point. I am constantly on the look-out for small measures and large in the planning system that can obstruct the sensible energy efficiency measures, such as solar panels, that will make all the difference. I say to her and other Members of the House that if they have specific examples of barriers or interpretations of guidelines that are getting in the way—sometimes is not about the rules but about local councils’ interpretations of them—please bring them to our attention, because we are constantly trying to make it easier to make such upgrades happen.

[Sarah Dyke]

Earl, a social housing tenant from Glastonbury, is disabled and has faced multiple barriers that have prevented him from self-funding improvements to the sustainability and energy efficiency of his home, in order to help him reduce his energy poverty and improve his health. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that social housing tenants receive energy upgrades in their homes, and in particular those living in older housing stock, where upgrades might be more complex to achieve?

[Ed Miliband]

It sounds as though the hon. Lady is raising an individual case, and if she wants to draw it to our attention, she can do so. On the more general point, I believe that her local authority has received £6 million as part of the warm homes local grant, so it would be worth talking to it about this. Again—I am sure that I speak for the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), on this—where there are specific issues about how particular schemes are working, please do draw them to our attention and we will seek to act on them.

Great British Energy Bill

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Consideration of Lords amendments
Tuesday 25th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

Alongside community groups across the country, including Power for People and Community Energy England, I am pleased to welcome the inclusion of community energy and benefits in the Bill through Lords amendment 1. It was possible after all, and I congratulate the Government on taking this step. We Liberal Democrats have pushed hard for that in this House and the other place, but there has been a lot of cross-party working to achieve it, and I am delighted that its inclusion is now enshrined in law. This is a victory for community voices, giving them a real stake in the energy transition through full or partial ownership of local power. Communities like mine in South Cambridgeshire, where many are off grid and struggling with volatile oil prices, want to generate and sell their own green energy locally. It is absurd that that is not possible.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

There are five community energy schemes in my constituency, and they all contribute to local energy supplies. An increase in community energy projects would boost the local economy, as my hon. Friend says, create jobs and reduce energy costs, especially in rural areas. Does she agree that we must go further and create long-term plans to support this type of initiative?

[Pippa Heylings]

I completely agree. The Great British Energy Bill gives a statutory steer that helps us have those long-term plans.

The clean energy transition has to be done with communities, not to communities. I commend the Government for committing an additional £5 million to the community energy fund, bringing certainty at least to its short-term future.

Lords amendment 1 also addresses community benefits, which are critical for taking people with us on this pathway to the energy transition. If communities are to host energy infrastructure, whether for onshore wind or large-scale solar farms, those benefits have to go beyond token gestures such as roofs for scout huts or some apprenticeships. In Scotland, for example, community benefit is worth £5,000 per installed megawatt per year. This means that a controversial large-scale solar project in my constituency, such as the Kingsway solar farm, could provide £2.5 million annually to the local community. That is the scale we should be talking about, and it has to be the community that determines how and where that money is spent.

Lords amendment 12 is also a vital addition to the Bill, requiring GB Energy to keep its impact on sustainable development under review. Credit is due to Baroness Hayman, who fought tirelessly in the other House to ensure that sustainability is embedded in our energy transition through that amendment. We welcome the assurances we have received that in the updated framework agreement, not only will the local economies of coastal communities be taken into consideration, but there will be an explicit climate and nature duty for GB Energy. GB Energy has to consider economic, environmental and social needs, ensuring that future generations can meet their needs.

I would have liked to discuss amendment (a), in the name of the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), and amendment (b), in the name of the hon. Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), both to Lords amendment 2. Modern slavery is a barbaric practice that should have been eradicated long ago. We look to the promise of our green energy transformation, but it cannot take place at the cost of human rights abuses across the world.

Research from Sheffield Hallam University has directly linked China’s labour transfer programme to the global solar panel supply chain. China produces 40% of the world’s polysilicon and 80% of its solar panels, and right now, 2.7 million Uyghurs are subjected to state detention and forced labour. It is incomprehensible that the Government are seeking to vote down an amendment that would withdraw GB Energy investment from supply chains tainted by forced labour. GB Energy has to set the standard, not muddle along.

There is nothing sufficiently robust in the Bill to ensure that there is no forced labour in this supply chain. The solar taskforce does not have the mandate to ensure that. As we have heard, the Procurement Act 2023 cannot address the issue. This should be an issue not just for the energy sector. The health sector has shown leadership by addressing the matter in the Health and Care Act 2022. The Great British Energy Bill is a key piece of legislation, and measures on forced labour should be part of it.

Fuel Poverty: England

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jon Trickett]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments, and of course, what she is saying is correct. The lady who I was just talking about told me that living on £50 a week is practically impossible. I imagine that there are some people in this Chamber, modest as we all are, who spend more than £50 on a meal. Think about that woman in Normanton left with only that amount of money to live on. Her final comment was poignant. She speaks for the 1,000 people who wrote to me when she says:

“For many, retirement now means misery and trying to make ends meet. In the near future no doubt, I will have a choice like many before me—heat or eat. And I’ll just be another statistic. That is something no one would look forward to,”

having worked all their life. She speaks for millions of people.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Jon Trickett]

I will, but briefly. There are a lot of people who want to speak.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Dyke]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for sharing those heartbreaking stories. A constituent of mine from Ilton wrote to me recently. She suffers with rheumatoid arthritis and needs a warm environment to keep warm, but because she is on personal independence payment, she is not eligible to claim the winter fuel allowance. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government must urgently reassess their exemptions for the winter fuel allowance, to ensure that those who are in medical need receive the financial support that they require?

[Jon Trickett]

The hon. Lady has made her point. The House probably knows my views on the winter fuel allowance, but I had better move on before I get myself into trouble.

One in four households in Fitzwilliam and Kinsley in my constituency, where miners once provided the heat for our country, are now living in fuel poverty as a result of changes over the past few years. There are two definitions of fuel poverty. The first is the Government’s rule, which was changed under the Tory Government in 2015. Under that definition, an estimated 3 million households in England alone are in fuel poverty, but it requires both that the household is in poverty and that the house is inadequately insulated.

Heat Batteries: Decarbonising Homes

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered decarbonising homes and heat batteries.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. My constituents in Ealing Southall regularly speak to me about the cost of heating their homes. Gas bills have risen astronomically over the past few years, and in freezing weather like this, people are often afraid to turn up their heating in case they are hit with a massive bill. Indeed, research by the House of Commons Library confirms that the annual increase in gas bills in October 2022 was the largest ever recorded, based on records going back to 1970.

How did this happen, and what can we do to reduce people’s bills? There is one reason why bills have increased to such a degree: we have become almost completely dependent on Russian gas—on gas internationally, in fact. When Russia, a huge gas supplier, invaded Ukraine, it disrupted global gas supplies. Prices shot up across the world. As a country, we have put all our eggs in one basket. Some 23 million homes have gas boilers, and 85% of us depend on gas to heat our homes, so we had no option but to pay higher prices. It is a basic mistake that anyone can see if they think about it. For years we lived off cheap gas, until we were addicted to it. Then, when supplies were disrupted, we were left at the mercy of higher prices.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

The hon. Member is making a strong point, and I thank her for secured this really important debate. I represent a very rural area where homes have depended on oil-fired heating systems off grid. There is a growing awareness about the transition to renewable alternatives. However, for some, this shift is seen as more of a threat than an opportunity—I have lots of casework on the matter—so engaging consumers has to be a priority. Heat pumps are the lowest-carbon heating solution and should therefore reward homes with lower energy costs. Does the hon. Member agree that the Government should make rebalancing gas and electricity tariffs a priority, to encourage more consumers to upgrade to heat pumps?

[Deirdre Costigan]

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention; I will come to that point later in my speech. I know that the Government are giving this much consideration.

--- Later in debate ---

[Deirdre Costigan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I am well aware of the company he mentions and will talk about it later in my remarks. It is a great example to build on.

We need to wean our home heating systems off gas, in the same way that we need to wean the country off gas when it comes to renewable energy. The recent Budget invested £3.4 billion as a first step in the warm homes plan. Heat pumps, which will benefit from some of that money, are a great way to wean us off gas. They use electricity rather than gas, so they can be fed from home-grown energy from our wind and solar farms.

Just 1% of UK homes use a heat pump, compared with 60% in Norway. That is a real indictment of the previous Government’s inaction. It is fantastic that this Government are systematically removing barriers to heat pumps. We have increased funding for the boiler upgrade scheme by £30 million this year and will be doubling it from April. We are removing the need for other home upgrades before households can get that funding, and we are changing planning requirements and the 1 metre rule so that heat pumps are easier to install.

[Sarah Dyke]

Like many residents of rural areas on an off-grid oil heating system, my constituent Nicholas in Sparkford desperately wants to change to a heat pump, but it would cost him £19,000 to transition. The cost is preventing so many people in rural areas from decarbonising their home. I appreciate that the Government are taking steps to help, but in rural areas the cost is simply too high. What can the Government do to incentivise people who live in rural areas to decarbonise their home?

[Deirdre Costigan]

As I have laid out, the Government have already taken steps to increase the funding to transition to heat pumps. I am sure the Minister will have more to say on rural communities and the particular barriers they face.

Although heat pumps are extremely important in the move to wean us off gas, they do not work for every home. An estimated 20% of homes are unsuitable for heat pumps. We need to do more to break down the reasons why people can be reluctant to choose them. Air source heat pumps need outdoor space. Many of my Ealing Southall constituents live in small terraced homes or flats and do not have much outdoor space, so a heat pump is not a viable or attractive option. Many people have repurposed the space that used to house their hot water tank.

That is where innovative British firms such as Kensa in Cornwall and Tepeo in Reading come in. Both companies use heat batteries, using the same science that is behind hand-warmer packs, to store thermal energy until it is needed. Tepeo’s zero emission boiler, ZEB, uses a heat battery that automatically buys energy at cheaper times of day and releases it when required, reducing energy bills. Users do not need an outside pump; they just need a box about the size of a gas boiler. Because of their small size and their ability to plug and play without needing to do replumbing, heat batteries are a good solution for heating homes in built-up urban environments like London, including parts of Ealing Southall.

Kensa uses shared ground source heat loops that are connected to whole streets or blocks of flats. The energy is connected from the ground, is produced in networked heat pumps in each of the linked houses or flats and is then stored in Kensa’s Sunamp heat batteries. No outdoor space is needed, and it replaces the need for a hot water tank.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

It will not surprise the House that I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend, who, as always, makes an incredibly important point. He is right that stability is key, but so too is this Government’s commitment to invest in community energy. We have committed to upwards of 8 GW of energy from community sources over the course of this Parliament up to 2030. That commitment ensures not just that we have an energy mix where communities benefit, but that they benefit from the economic and social advantages of owning the energy they produce.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

Community energy schemes provide a great opportunity for local communities to take ownership of clean energy production. In Glastonbury and Somerton, we have seen the benefits as Avalon Community Energy projects around Glastonbury are projected to save 1,000 tonnes of carbon per year. How will the Minister support community energy schemes and ensure that they play a fair and full role in creating clean energy?

[Michael Shanks]

The hon. Member has raised community energy on a number of occasions in this place, and I know she is a champion of it. She is right to highlight the examples of where community energy can make a huge difference. One of the key areas we want to drive forward is the local power plan, which will be delivered by Great British Energy. Unfortunately, her party did not in the end support the creation of Great British Energy, but I hope they will change that position and see the huge advantages of investing through Great British Energy in schemes like the one she mentioned, but also of helping to build capacity in community groups so that they are capable of driving those projects forward.

COP29

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend asks a really important question. I met with some of the youth campaigners and the youth coalition at COP, and I agreed with them. The UK has signed up to a youth clause in our NDC, which is about recognising young people as agents of change when it comes to climate and the need to engage with young people. I would love to talk to my hon. Friend and those young people about how we take those issues forward in the months ahead.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and agree that the UK must show global leadership on climate action. Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store, yet damaged peatlands are responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. The UK imports 60% of peat used in horticulture, offshoring carbon emissions abroad. Does the Secretary of State agree that, beyond COP29, we must continue to show global leadership and protect the environment by committing to a phased ban on peat in horticulture?

[Ed Miliband]

I will deal with the wider issues of peatlands, because money was allocated in the Budget for these issues through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. That is a very important issue, and the wider issue is also important. We also need to make progress at a global level. The other issues are actually a matter for DEFRA, but I will undertake to write to the hon. Lady on them.

Fuel Poverty

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government policies on tackling fuel poverty.

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Roger. A household in fuel poverty is defined as one that commits more than 10% of its income on energy to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. Fuel poverty includes three elements. The first is the household’s income, from which we compute that 10%; the second is the household’s energy requirements, on which the quality of the housing stock and the availability of cheaper tariffs have an influence; and the third is the fuel prices themselves. It is sobering to think that across the United Kingdom as a whole, no fewer than 6 million households are living in fuel poverty. In Scotland in 2022, some 791,000 households were fuel-poor.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

I have recently received more than 200 emails from pensioners in Glastonbury and Somerton who do not know whether they can afford to turn on the heating this winter. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government should provide targeted energy discounts for vulnerable households, to reduce the number of people living in fuel poverty?

[Mr Carmichael]

It will be the first surprise of the day for everyone that the answer is yes. I very much agree that we need that—or if not that, something of the sort. Meaningful action that is fit to meet the needs of the different parts of the United Kingdom is long overdue.

While households in fuel poverty are committing more than 10% of their income, households in extreme fuel poverty are committing more than 20% to meet their energy needs and keep their home warm. In Scotland, there were 311,000 such households in 2019. By 2022, the figure had risen to 472,000.

This issue is particularly acute for us in the northern isles. In Orkney and Shetland, 31% of households live in fuel poverty; the Scottish average, which is higher than that of the rest of the United Kingdom, is 24%. It is not difficult to see why fuel poverty is particularly acute in the northern isles. Winters are longer, darker and colder than in other parts of the country. We are off the gas grid. Most of our homes are heated using electricity, oil and sometimes liquefied petroleum gas or solid fuel. Yes, an increasing number of people are able to use photovoltaics and ground or air-source heat pumps, but the bulk of our heating still comes from conventional sources.