What rates are you being offered by your provider at the moment?

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

I deduce that electricity is quoted @ around 33p / kWh, mains gas @ around 10 p (+ 20% ???), and oil @ around 8 p. But the oil price is not capped or subject to any kind of protection??

Yes, that's right - electricity prices from October are around 33-35p/kWh, mains gas around 10-11p/kWh and oil (based on quotes people have posted here) around 8-9p/kWh.

No protection or cap for oil at the moment, because there hasn't yet been any evidence it was going to go up to the same prices as the 85p electricity and 25p gas that the old cap indicated.

Perhaps if it does, there will be some additional intervention - we don't know.

MattMattMattUK

Telegraph_Sam said:

I deduce that electricity is quoted @ around 33p / kWh, mains gas @ around 10 p (+ 20% ???), and oil @ around 8 p. But the oil price is not capped or subject to any kind of protection??

It varies by region, but electricity at around 34p per kWh, gas at 10.3p per kWh and based on Kerosene prices for the last few months that works out a around the 8p per kWh you suggest, with some buying clubs having got it down to around 7.5p per kWh. 

The oil price is not capped, it is more complicated because of delivery costs and regional variation which is why the help for those using oil is discretionary so it can be varied as required.

QrizB

The Ofgem and EPG caps for electricity and mains gas are well publicised and much debated on this forum.

Heating oil and LPG are not capped. The price is unregulated.

Telegraph_Sam

So there was an "old" cap for oil but this no longer exists? 
Yet oil burners have got no cause to complain as long as the present price structure remains roughly stable

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

So there was an "old" cap for oil but this no longer exists? 
Yet oil burners have got no cause to complain as long as the present price structure remains roughly stable

There was an old cap for electricity and gas (reviewed every 6 then 3 months), that was looking likely to produce unit costs for gas and electricity as I indicated.  This is the OFGEM cap referred to by QrizB.

This has been replaced with the newer EPG cap for gas and electricity, which still leaves both fuels more expensive per kWh than heating oil and LPG.

QrizB

Telegraph_Sam said:

So there was an "old" cap for oil but this no longer exists?

No, oil has never been capped. Historically it's usually been more expensive than mains gas, but occasionally it's cheaper. This winter looks likely to be one of those occasions.

Telegraph_Sam

Which is the easiest source to use to follow the market price for oil ( and how it compares with mains gas and electricity)?

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

Which is the easiest source to use to follow the market price for oil ( and how it compares with mains gas and electricity)?

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/kj5u/mm23

I'd look there for the heating oil price (but it's in unusual units of pence per 1000 litres).

Mains gas and electricity prices are now supposedly fixed for two years, so not much point in tracking those.

Telegraph_Sam

Tks I'll follow that up. Once you know the conversion factors (I don't) it shouldn't be rocket science to convert each fuel to a common denominator p / kWh presumably. I think gas works out at around 32 to get from p / ft3 to kWh but that's from memory which is capped😀

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

Tks I'll follow that up. Once you know the conversion factors (I don't) it shouldn't be rocket science to convert each fuel to a common denominator p / kWh presumably. I think gas works out at around 32 to get from p / ft3 to kWh but that's from memory which is capped😀

Both electricity and mains gas are, as we said, priced in pence per kWh.  No conversion necessary.

I think for heating oil, it's something like 10.5 kWh per litre, so the 89690p/1000L from the latest ONS data converts to about 8.5p/kWh