Oil prices

MillwallJac

We live in rural Lincolnshire. 

Over the years we have many different types of heating.  Calor gas always depended on the price of oil. 

We changed to oil which was cheaper at one time and now the prices are ridiculous. 

Why are those of us living in rural areas where we do not have mains gas not considered when it comes to price caps?

We use boiler juice and in March 2021 oil was 43.73.  It didn't go down in the summer and has risen steadily since September 21.  Now it is over 1.55 per litre, the same as diesel for our small car. 

Heating oil has never been as high as diesel prices.  1000ltr tank of oil in March 21 was under £450 now it would be over £1550.

People go on about electricity and gas increases but none have increased over 300% as our oil prices have, Russia problem or not.. 

Our diesel prices are also high.  We all bought diesel cars because they are cheaper to run.  Now we are told we are out of order using a diesel vehicles and diesel prices are far dearer now than petrol.. 

Rural areas not only have to use oil for heating but rely on their own vehicles because we do not have public transport. 

Now we are retired and on a fixed income we cannot afford such horrific price rises. 

There is no point in having a free bus pass because we have no buses. 

I wrote to our MP, who lives in a local village, to complain and he went on about how many benefits the retired get like £100 fuel allowance.  While he acknowledges some of the local  hardships,  with an MP salary alone being over £80,000 and then the salary from his day job, he is hardly living a life like us.  In fact his village has mains gas  too.

No consideration to those living on low incomes which are too high (according to the government} to be eligible for any top up benefits. 

Our neighbour has a mortgage, she has oil heating, she travels to work 20 miles away by diesel car, she has 2 school age children and is on a low income.  She is not eligible to any top up benefits either. 

Where are people, who are already living on the bread line, supposed to magic an extra £700 per year rise in Electricity costs?  Particularly when the 300% rise in oil costs is not even considered important? 

Yes we could have used solar, or air source heating.  We couldn't afford the installation costs, nor at our age would it benefit of benefit to us financially. Our oil boiler is only 4 years old and an air source heating system, again, we cannot afford.  The thing they also forget to add is that air source heating has a pump which runs on electricity so is not 'free to use'. 

Then there is the electric car craze.  Totally out of anyone's price range.  Rural areas again the car would in some instances need charging again before you had barely started your journey. Not a 5 minute fill up at the garage either, a wait to use the charging station and then hours to charge it.  .  

Sorry for the long winded moan but it makes me so angry that those living comfortably on good incomes have no idea of how those on fixed incomes actually live and then preach to use how we should live our lives. According to the government a retired married couple only needs a joint income of  £250 per week to live on.  A state pension of under £10000 per annum, not even equivalent to the minimum wage. I am off back to fairyland now.......

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

MillwallJac said:

Why are those of us living in rural areas where we do not have mains gas not considered when it comes to price caps?

You have the benefit of capped electricity prices, like everyone else.

Ofgem can't cap oil or LPG prices as supply of those isn't regulated by them under the relevant Energy Acts.

The purpose of the price cap is not to make gas suppliers sell gas for less than the wholesale cost; the purpose is to prevent gas suppliers exploiting their captive customer base (the 30% or so who never switch). The current situation where capped gas is being sold at a loss is an unusual and unintended one.

Our diesel prices are also high.  We all bought diesel cars because they are cheaper to run.  Now we are told we are out of order using a diesel vehicles and diesel prices are far dearer now than petrol.

Diesel cars are still cheaper to run than petrol ones, due to diesels getting better MPG.

Our neighbour has a mortgage, she has oil heating, she travels to work 20 miles away by diesel car, she has 2 school age children and is on a low income.  She is not eligible to any top up benefits either. 

Your neighbour coulsd move house and live closer to her work, preferably on the gas network. It's her choice.

We live in rural Lincolnshire. 
...
Then there is the electric car craze.  Totally out of anyone's price range.  Rural areas again the car would in some instances need charging again before you had barely started your journey. Not a 5 minute fill up at the garage either, a wait to use the charging station and then hours to charge it.

New electric cars are no more expensive to buy than petrol or diesel ones, if you care to check the finance deals.

From King's Lynn, Norfolk to Hull, E. Yorks is 104 miles by road and takes in the full length of Lincolnshire. You can drive that distance on a single charge in pretty much any electric car currently on the market.

thrope

I think from the other threads to some extent it might be a problem of panic buying and that aggregators like boilerjuice might be making it seem worse than it is. Trying a local distributer and avoiding the online aggregators at the moment might be the best option.

canaldumidi

I have a list of around 15 possible suppliers including 2 clubs and boilerjuice/directoil and the like.

Checked them all. Many not taking orders. Most quoting 140 - 170 ppl.

One (national company) quoted 115.

I think the panic-buying has led to a shortage which has led to profiteering.

Will prices stablise/drop? Who the **** knows!

GrumpyDil

Boilerjuice quoting 97 per litre near Peterborough for express delivery and 134 for normal delivery 

justwhat

MillwallJac said:

Sorry for the long winded moan but it makes me so angry that those living comfortably on good incomes have no idea of how those on fixed incomes actually live and then preach to use how we should live our lives. According to the government a retired married couple only needs a joint income of  £250 per week to live on.  A state pension of under £10000 per annum, not even equivalent to the minimum wage. I am off back to fairyland now.......

I am semi-retired , next too no mortgage. Very low income. People live differently now compared too previous 30-40 years . We are used to many more luxuries / higher standards of living. 

no mortgage, no loans and no rent . Its very easy too live on 250 pound per week. There are many  standards of living that are luxuries rather than necessities, in many peoples eyes. And you can still afford luxuries.

Take heating alone , many people consider find it  unacceptable to put another layer of clothing on to keep warm in the house. We expect properties to be a higher temperature than previous generations. 

Food some people eat !!!!!! , some people eat salmon/sirloin steak couple of times a week. Some people tuck into fast food. Some previous Food luxuries are now thought off as a necessity.

Pets - another necessity in today society. Cant afford too feed yourself or heat house , but you have pets / horses etc. Yester year you made a choice not to have pets based on affordability. Now considered  a necessity. 

catclaires

We're new to oil heating (having moved into our house just over 6 months ago). We were left with a decent-ish bit of oil from the previous owner and were happy that we'd managed to make it last over winter, but of course the timing is not so great now that we've pretty much run out at this point - quotes yesterday were between 156.50 and just over 190 per litre! Hoping to avoid committing to 500 litres at the ridiculousness of current prices so have turned off the central heating entirely and will use the immersion to heat water for showers - there are only 2 of us, so it won't be too much of a hardship to be frugal as long as there's not a prolonged cold snap. 

Let's just hope the prices come down soon (and preferably before the electricity price hike on 1 April, now that we're using the immersion) - the average England price on Boiler Juice looks as if it's started to drop significantly in the last few days, so fingers crossed... 

dunstonh

- quotes yesterday were between 156.50 and just over 190 per litre!

Wow.  We are under 100p in east Anglia currently.

Are you getting prices from independents or the online sites?  online are pricing higher at the moment to put people off.

MillwallJac

Today in South Lincolnshire Boiler Juice is just under £2 per gallon. You cannot buy under 500 litres. Going from a regular fixed direct debit set a year ago of £40 a month rising to the prices as they are now and not having enough credit to put 500 litres in your tank and no funds to pay the difference.
   
BP station was charging  £179.9. Sainsburys £165.9 for diesel. In some places Sainsburys was charging £172.9 for diesel.

Working 20 miles from home.......moving nearer to work is not viable. Properties are far dearer. 

canaldumidi

I ordered 1000 litres I didn't really need in panic last week at 115 from a big national. Cancelled it today as they are now quoting under 100 online and the likes of valueoils directoils and boilerjuice are reducing daily from 150+ to 110 ish.

Local clubs still not quoting but they will soon.