The UK imported no coal, oil or gas from Russia in January 2023, according to the House of Commons Library1. The same briefing states that the total value of UK fossil fuel imports from Russia has fallen since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and gives the figure for the year to January 2022 as £1.34 billion1.
The end of Russian fossil fuel imports sits inside a wider period of sharply higher household costs. The Library records that typical household energy bills increased by 54% in April 2022 and 27% in October 2022, and that current bills remain 43% above their winter 2021/22 levels1. Annual inflation reached 11.1% in October 2022, a 41-year high, before easing in subsequent months1. The Library also notes that the inflation rate reached the Bank of England's target of 2.0% in May 20241.
On support, the Library states that the UK Government's Energy Bills Support Scheme provided a £400 discount on electricity bills to help households with the rising cost of energy1. The scheme was first announced in February 2022 and updated in May and July 20221.
"The UK imported no coal, oil or gas from Russia in January 2023."
The briefing does not set out how much of the fall in Russian imports was replaced by domestic production, nor which countries supplied the equivalent volumes instead. Those details have not been reported in the material cited here1.
Why it matters for households
Ending imports of Russian coal, oil and gas changes where Britain's energy comes from, but it does not by itself change what a household pays or how exposed that household is to events abroad. The Library's figures show bills rising steeply in 2022 and remaining well above winter 2021/22 levels afterwards, even as Russian volumes went to zero1. Import dependence is therefore a question of which countries and markets supply the UK, not simply whether one particular supplier is excluded. For a household, the practical link runs through the wholesale prices that feed into UK energy supply and through how much of a home's own consumption is met by imported energy. Measures that reduce a home's demand for gas and electricity, such as a heat pump or an electric vehicle, change the volume of energy that has to be brought in from elsewhere, while local energy supply and community energy schemes change where it comes from. The wider picture of energy independence covers both.
What happens next
No further dated steps on Russian fossil fuel imports are set out in the cited material1.
Sources1 cited
- Cost of living and inflation, commonslibrary.parliament.uk