Rural energy bills not protected by price cap

Hundreds of thousands of rural homeowners will see their bills rise by more than £400, as the energy price cap has failed to protect those living in oilpowered properties.

More than 280,000 homes are considered to be oil reliant, most of them located in the countryside. Wholesale prices have caused gas and electricity bills to spike, but most urban homes affected are protected by the price cap, which limits how much suppliers can charge customers on default tariffs.

However, rural communities that rely on oil to heat their homes have no such protections in place, and as a result face spiralling bills with no upper limit on what they have to pay.

The price of heating oil has climbed by around 63pc since April 1, hitting its highest level in more than four years at 67.4p a litre. As a result, at current prices, the average rural home buying 2,512 litres of heating oil a year would pay around £1,681 – £404 more than a household on a gas or electricity tariff would pay under the energy price cap.

Four in every 10 rural homes rely on oil as their main fuel source, according to the most recent government data, published in 2019. This is equivalent to 280,000 properties. By comparison, almost no homes in city or urban centres, and just 0.2pc of suburban homes, rely on oil. Charities said the Government must do more to protect the rural locations worst hit by the energy crisis.

Matt Copeland, of National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity, said: “While much of the focus of the current energy crisis has been on the price cap rising, many off-gas grid rural homes on oil and LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] have been hit by rising prices.”

Citizens Advice, the charity, said one in seven rural households already struggle to pay to heat their homes.