Off-grid homes face soaring bills – and no help from the Government

‘Households will fall through the gaps despite the energy handout’

Rural households face soaring energy bills after being left at the mercy of uncapped fuel prices, charities have warned.

While every household will receive a £400 grant in October from the Government to help ease the impact of spiralling energy bills, no targeted measures were announced to support owners of the 1.5 million properties that use heating oil or liquid gas, which are not subject to the energy price cap.

Rural homeowners who rely on sources other than gas and electricity through the grid face extreme price volatility and higher bills than those who use conventional sources of energy.

Heating oil is 43pc more expensive than it was in February, according to website Boiler Juice. This adds around £490 to the average annual bill. Homes with average usage of 1,700 litres a year are already paying £2,960 to power and heat their homes once electricity use is taken into account.

In October, once the price cap rises, they face paying about £650 more a year to power and heat their homes than those on the gas grid.

Crispin Truman of CPRE, a countryside charity, said: “Soaring fuel bills are hitting rural homes the hardest. These houses are often older and harder to insulate, making them more costly to keep warm. Many do not have a gas connection and more than 1.5 million homes in the countryside use heating oil. The volatile price of oil can only add to people’s worries about their living costs.”

Mr Truman said the Chancellor should extend the energy price cap to cover heating oil to protect these households.

Matt Copeland of National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity, said: “A small minority of households off the gas grid don’t have an electricity connection so won’t even receive the £400 electricity rebate. There are still some households set to fall through the gaps.”

Last week the energy regulator, Ofgem, said Britain’s energy price cap would rise to around £2,800 in October, meaning households would pay 42pc, or around £830, more than they do now. Along with spiralling bills, offgrid homes have faced long delays to deliveries of fuel this year because of supply chain problems.

Andrew Banks from Ellesmere in Shropshire was left without heating or hot water earlier this year after his deliveries failed to turn up.

He said: “I would rather the Government not take taxes from me than give me back money taken from those very taxes in the first place.

“The best thing the Chancellor could do for every one would be to scrap VAT on fuel and scrap the green levies. Everyone would benefit and there would be less bureaucracy involved, so it would be cheaper.”

A government spokesman said: “Households that are off the gas grid but on a default tariff for their electricity supply will still be protected by the energy price cap and electricity-metered homes will receive £400 off their energy bills.

“We recognise the pressures people are facing, which is why the Chancellor set out a new £15bn package of support for the cost of living.”

Owners of Aga ovens, which typically run on heating oil, are paying 43pc more than they were in February