£200 for people who heat with oil

RURAL homes relying on oil or LPG to heat their homes are to see the support with bills doubled from £100 to £200, the Chancellor announced.

The Chancellor used his autumn statement to announce that the energy price guarantee will continue for a further 12 months from April, but will rise from the current £2,500 to £3,000 per year for the average household.

This will coincide with the £67 monthly payments that make up the Government’s £400 rebate to all households to offset higher energy bills ending from March. Also, in a nod to the special circumstances of many rural dwellers, who are off the gas grid, Mr Hunt said that he was increasing support for those who use fuels such as heating oil and LPG.

Mr Hunt said the £200 grant would be delivered “as soon as possible this winter.”

Domestic heating oil prices have soared this year, rising close to £1 a litre in some areas.

The average annual household energy bill rose from £1,971 to a frozen £2,500 from October 1 under the energy price guarantee introduced by former prime minister Liz Truss.

The cap, limiting the price companies can charge customers per unit of energy they use, was to have lasted for two years from October 1.

Mr Hunt had already announced that it would end at its current level after six months, after which more targeted help would be provided to the most vulnerable.

Critics said raising the cap would condemned seven million UK households to fuel poverty.