Heating Oil and LPG Price Data in the UK

Heating oil and LPG are the fuels that sit outside the regulated energy market. Households that use them buy in bulk from a distributor, at a price set on the day, with no price cap and no standard tariff. The published data that tracks those prices comes from a small number of sources, and it is worth knowing which is which before reading any figure.

The headline numbers are stark. Typical mid-month heating oil prices were 104 pence per litre in March and April 2026, surpassing the previous peak¹. That followed a rise from 53 pence per litre in February 2026 to £1.04 per litre in March 2026². The March 2026 spike was linked to supply disruption following the start of the Israel/US-Iran conflict, and it was sharper than earlier movements¹. In mid-June 2026 the UK figure was 76.6 pence per litre, cheaper than anywhere in the EU, where the cheapest state, Malta, stood at 86.9 pence per litre¹.

Around 1.6 million homes across the UK use heating oil, according to the latest data³. In England and Wales, 3.5 per cent of households used heating oil as their sole source of heating at the 2021 and 2022 censuses⁴. Those households are not covered by the energy price cap, a point the government has stated plainly: "those who heat their homes with oil are not covered by the energy price cap"⁵.

How heating oil prices are tracked and by whom

There is no single official heating oil price tracker for the UK. The figures that circulate come from several bodies with different methods and different update cycles, and the differences matter when comparing one number with another.

The House of Commons Library publishes briefing papers that carry heating oil price figures, drawing on mid-month prices and comparing them with earlier periods¹. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes Energy Trends and Prices statistical releases, which include retail price data and EU comparative data. The release of 29 January 2026 covered retail price data and EU comparative data for December 2025, and petrol and diesel data for January 2026⁶. The release of 30 July 2026 covered retail price data and EU comparative data for June 2026, and petrol and diesel data for July 2026⁷. Those releases are the official series, but they are monthly and they lag the market.

Sutherland Tables collects comparative home heating costs from the UK and Republic of Ireland for each quarter of the year, and its figures are used in published price reporting⁸. In Northern Ireland, the Consumer Council publishes its own survey data, which is why Northern Ireland figures can differ from Great Britain ones⁴.

The Competition and Markets Authority has been asked by the Chancellor to remain vigilant across heating oil prices and tackle unjustified increases. It has started work looking at the heating oil market and will come forward with recommendations and a report⁹. Separately, a UK Government review of Ofgem covering heating oil market regulation has been described as the first step in giving Ofgem the power to regulate the heating oil market.

The range: from 32p lows to almost £985 per 1,000 litres

The published series spans a very wide range, and the extremes are the point. A litre cost 25p on average between May and July 2020⁸. That was the lowest point in the recent series, and it came after a period when the average price for kerosene heating oil was 50p per litre, with £400 for 800 litres, in the same period a year earlier⁸.

At the other end, the March 2026 spike took the average to £1.04 per litre, which is £1,040 per 1,000 litres². The increase was not gradual. Prices went from 53 pence per litre in February 2026 to £1.04 per litre in March 2026, a 95 per cent increase in a single month². They then increased by a further 8 per cent the following month³. The average price of home heating oil in the UK increased by over 100 per cent, from approximately 60 pence per litre to over 120 pence per litre, between the end of February and mid-March 2026⁴. In Northern Ireland, the average price increased by approximately 85 to 95 per cent over the same period⁴.

The variation is not only over time. Heating oil prices varied by between 5p and 10p a litre, around 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the retail price at the time, between and sometimes within postcodes, according to an Office of Fair Trading study³. That means two households a few miles apart can pay materially different prices on the same day.

The range across UK regions in the year to the first quarter of 2026 was also wide: heating oil costs increased between 6 per cent and 17 per cent across the regions of the UK in that period, according to Sutherland Tables³.

UK versus EU: why UK oil is cheaper than anywhere in Europe

UK heating oil was cheaper than anywhere in the EU in mid-June 2026. The UK figure was 76.6 pence per litre, and the cheapest in the EU was Malta at 86.9 pence per litre¹. That is a consistent pattern in the published comparative data, and it reflects differences in duty, supply chains and market structure rather than any single cause.

The comparison is not limited to heating oil. UK gas prices for households were 34 per cent below the EU average and less expensive than in all but seven EU states in the second half of 2025¹. UK gas prices for businesses have also been lower than those in comparable European countries¹⁰.

The wider context is that the UK has been slow on low-carbon heating. The UK was the slowest among all European countries for which data is available on low-carbon heating uptake¹¹. That matters for reading the price data, because a household on heating oil is exposed to a fuel whose price is set internationally and whose alternatives are being adopted more slowly in the UK than elsewhere.

For households, the practical point is that UK heating oil being cheaper than the EU does not make it cheap in absolute terms. The UK average cost of heating a typical three bedroom house is around 50 per cent higher with heating oil than with mains gas¹². That gap is the number that matters for a household comparing its options, and it is a cost-of-heating comparison rather than a price-per-litre one.

Reading the price per litre against the price per 1,000 litres

Heating oil is quoted both ways, and the two can be confused. A price of 104 pence per litre is £1,040 per 1,000 litres¹. A price of £1.04 per litre is the same figure expressed in pounds². The published series uses both forms, sometimes in the same document.

The distinction matters because orders are placed in litres, usually in volumes from 500 litres upwards, and the price per litre is what the supplier quotes. A household ordering 500 litres at £1.04 per litre pays £520 before any delivery charge. The same household ordering 1,000 litres at the same rate pays £1,040. The per-1,000-litre figure is a convenient way of expressing the same rate for larger orders, not a different price.

The gap between quoted and delivered prices is a separate issue. Trading Standards has reported that cost of living pressures and soaring prices have exposed gaps in bulk fuel checks¹³. The Competition and Markets Authority work on the heating oil market is partly about whether price increases are justified⁹. For a household, the quoted price is the supplier's offer on the day, and the delivered price is what is actually paid after any delivery charge or minimum order condition.

Heating oil and inflation: the ONS evidence

Heating oil prices feed into the inflation figures because they are part of the household consumption basket. The Office for National Statistics publishes the consumer price inflation bulletin, and the July 2026 release was dated 19 August 2026¹⁴. The movements in heating oil prices in early 2026 were large enough to show up in those figures.

The scale of the movement is the reason. Prices almost doubled in one month in March 2026, and the spike was linked to supply disruption following the start of the Israel/US-Iran conflict¹. The March 2026 increase was 95 per cent in a single month, followed by a further 8 per cent in April². The price for heating oil rose by almost 110 per cent over the past week at one point in March 2026, according to Trading Standards¹³.

The effect on individual households was severe. A 70-year-old woman in Wales saw a quote for 500 litres of oil rise by £250 in less than a week⁹. A constituent in Old Weston saw her quote for 500 litres leap from £324 to £868⁹. The average price went up from £300 to £640 a tank, or from 63p to £1.40 a litre⁹.

This is not a new pattern. Heating oil increased in price by more than 50 per cent over the autumn of 2010¹⁵. In 2022, many reported the cost of heating oil had more than doubled over the past two months, with reports of supply issues¹⁶. The Office for National Statistics announced in 2020 that the largest fuel price increase in nearly a decade caused inflation to rise in July⁸. The volatility is structural, not a one-off.

Where heating oil sits in UK energy statistics

Heating oil occupies a specific place in the official statistics, and it is a smaller place than the attention it receives might suggest. Around 1.6 million homes across the UK use heating oil³. In England and Wales, 3.5 per cent of households used heating oil as their sole source of heating at the 2021 and 2022 censuses⁴. An earlier figure put 1.1 million homes in Britain, 4.4 per cent, on heating oil¹⁵.

The Housing Energy Fact File draws together the important data about energy use in homes in Great Britain¹⁷. The Energy Company Obligation, under legislation from 2014, had a home heating cost reduction target of £6.46bn for the period 1 April 2015 to 30 September 2018¹⁸. That is the main domestic efficiency scheme, and it is separate from the price data.

The Energy Trends and Prices releases are the official series for retail price data. One release covered retail price data for the UK for July 2017 and petrol and diesel data for August 2017¹⁹. The current releases follow the same structure, with retail price data and EU comparative data for the relevant month⁶. Heat pump deployment statistics provide information to monitor the number of hydronic heat pumps with a capacity up to 45kW installed in the United Kingdom, with geographical coverage of the UK²⁰.

For a household on heating oil, the statistical picture is one of a fuel that is counted, monitored and compared, but not regulated in the way mains gas and electricity are. The data exists to track the price, not to control it.

What price data means for household energy independence

Heating oil gives a household a particular kind of independence and a particular kind of exposure. The independence is that the fuel is bought in bulk and stored on site, so a household is not dependent on a mains connection for heat. The exposure is that the price is set by the market, with no cap and no standard tariff, and the household carries the full risk of a price spike.

The support schemes reflect that exposure. In Northern Ireland, the Home Heating Oil Support Scheme provides a £100 digital pre-paid card to help with the cost of home heating oil, and it will support around 340,000 households who use oil as their main source of heating²². The Executive agreed a £36.4million support package for home heating oil users in Northern Ireland²³. The UK Government announced £53 million in funding for low-income households who rely on heating oil⁴, and over £50 million in support for vulnerable customers on heating oil⁵. The funds are allocated based on census data on how many heating oil-fuelled households there are in each individual nation, not Barnett consequentials⁹.

In Scotland, the Emergency Heating Oil Scheme allows households to apply for £300 of support with their bills from 1 April²⁴. In Wales, people on low incomes who use heating oil or liquid petroleum gas are eligible for a one-off £200 payment if they are on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme²⁵. The maximum award for heating oil under the heating fuel costs support scheme increased to £750²⁷. In England, support is available through the crisis and resilience fund from 1 April⁹.

The dependence that remains is on the supplier, the delivery network and the international market. The Competition and Markets Authority work on the heating oil market is the current attempt to address whether that market works fairly⁹. For a household, the price data is the tool for seeing what the market is doing, and the support schemes are the buffer when it moves sharply.