Consumer Council Statement on Energy Bill Support Scheme and Energy Price Guarantee

The Consumer Council welcomes the progress announced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on the delivery of the Energy Bill Support Scheme and Energy Price Guarantee. However, we are calling for an urgent update on how appropriate support from the UK Government will be afforded to all households regardless of how they heat their home as heating oil is used by more than two thirds of domestic households in Northern Ireland.

Peter McClenaghan, Director of Infrastructure and Sustainability at the Consumer Council, said:  “The commitment from the Prime Minister that support will be provided to Northern Ireland consumers whether they use heating oil or natural gas is welcome. The Consumer Council is keen to see more progress in the development of support for consumers who primarily use home heating oil to heat their homes. This should be support over and above the additional payment of £100 to all households across the UK who are not served by the gas grid.

We have met with BEIS and the Northern Ireland Office and outlined the challenges Northern Ireland heating oil users face given the Consumer Council’s weekly heating oil survey shows heating oil prices in Northern Ireland remain over £1 per litre, more than twice the ten-year average price. The Northern Ireland Oil Federation has also outlined those challenges to BEIS.

These high prices combined with the requirement to make bulk purchases, exposure to a volatile global oil market, often inefficient boilers and a lack of consumer protection measures, particularly support for vulnerable consumers, create huge challenges for heating oil users which include many rural consumers who have no access to the natural gas network.

This is particularly worrying for Northern Ireland’s lowest earning households, who according to our research undertaken in the first quarter of 2022, have a discretionary income of just £29 per week.”