Rural off-grid residents need urgent support – Helen's call as heating oil price doubles

Helen Morgan MP has called for urgent support for rural homeowners after the price of heating oil doubled as a result of war in the Middle East.

Helen said 15,000 residents in the constituency were ‘off grid’ and needed rapid extra measures from the Chancellor.

More than one in three households in North Shropshire rely on oil to heat their homes - double the national average – and have seen prices jump dramatically since the beginning of March.

According to latest figures, at the start of March the UK average heating oil price was just 64pence per litre. This jumped to a whopping 136pence per litre on Monday.

In North Shropshire one firm was quoting as much as 153pence per litre.

Rural households that rely on heating oil are not protected by Ofgem’s energy price cap. The Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to shield off-grid householders from sudden price increases through a mechanism similar to the price cap, and are calling for a three-month zero-rating for VAT on heating oil for residents.

Helen said: “People are rightly worried sick about the massive jump in the cost of purchasing heating oil. This is not a luxury – for the more than 15,000 people in North Shropshire currently off-grid, buying oil to heat their homes is a necessity.

“The Chancellor urgently needs to step in to provide extra support. When you factor in higher taxes and a proposed fuel duty hike, we’re facing a frightening scenario of people in rural areas being forced to choose whether to heat or to eat this spring.”

Speaking in Parliament on Monday (9th March), Helen told the Chancellor that constituents had raised concerns about the “rapid escalation” of heating oil costs and asked how soon they would see any extra support.

She said: “I welcome the Chancellor's announcement that she recognises that problem and wants to act on it. Can she outline in more detail what kind of remedy she's envisaging and how soon we might be able to see it put in place?”

In her response, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, said there was a “unique situation” and confirmed the Treasury were reviewing the situation in respect of heating oil.

She added that the Treasury would meet with MPs later this week but warned that it would be “wrong for anyone to profiteer” as a result of the crisis.

Just last week Helen highlighted what she called a “disastrous” forthcoming fuel duty hike and urged the Chancellor to scrap increase plans.

Helen warned that people living in rural areas faced a “perfect storm” of soaring global prices and poor public transport, on top of the new tax hike.

Helen said the Chancellor should reverse her fuel duty hike, set to hit UK drivers with a 1p rise this September - the first such increase in 15 years. Her call came after the Chancellor delivered her Spring Statement on Tuesday (03rd March), in which she gave an update on the state of the country’s economy.