Ofgem price cap rise – what does it mean for heating oil households?

Ofgem just announced a X% increase in the price cap for electricity and gas from £1,641 per year to £1,XXX per year, costing an average home £X from July 1st. This is bad news for any family given how hard budgets are stretched right now, energy bills were looking promising from the announced April cut but the war in Iran has hit energy markets hard. Given the increase, it's still around X% lower than where we were after the war in Ukraine begun in March 2023.

But how does that compare with heating oil? It’s difficult to compare heating costs for off-grid vs on-grid homes, as the kerosene price is always moving and households buy it when they need it, not on contract.

Here’s as close a comparison as you’ll find and, what’s even better, we’ve got a first-of-its-kind opportunity for you to save even more on your off-grid energy. Be ready to write down the details in just a moment.

Are heating oil homes getting a good deal now?

The high cost-of-living, in particular high food and energy costs, have been the status quo now for years. Ofgem's announcement was expected and we can roughly break down the £x annual cost increase for a “typical household” from July1st into its gas and electricity components.

• Electricity costs up ~£73 a year
• Gas costs up ~£44 a year

Off-grid homes should benefit from the electricity too, but what about gas vs heating oil?

Heating oil prices have drastically increased following escalations in the Middle East with US-Israel and Iran. Assuming the “typical household” off-grid uses 1,500 litres of heating oil annually (estimates vary from 1,200 to 1,800) and we use today’s average heating oil cost of XXppl (incl. VAT), we get as close a comparison as possible between the heating costs of gas from July 1st and an oil order today.

You might be surprised to see that for the same heat production, the cost of heating oil right now is more expensive than gas. This is largely due to the way oil markets have reacted to the conflict in the Middle East. In less turbulent times, heating oil is usually cheaper, mainly because heating oil has no “standing charge”. Compounding this, the typical household heating cost is higher for off-grid compared to mains, due to the average oil home being more rural, older, larger and so requires more heating per year.

The obvious caveat is these prices will change. In 3 months’, a new price cap will be announced, and heating oil prices will change constantly, so stay up to date with our price alert emails. However, right now, this gives you a clear comparison.

We’ve created a permanent price cut for heating oil

What if we could discount 4 pence per litre off all your oil orders, forever. Sounds too good to be true right?

It’s here. The UK’s first home essentials package designed solely for off-grid homes to simplify your life with fewer bills.

Our mission has and always will be helping off-grid customers save on their essentials.

How does it work? And how do I join?

We’ve teamed up with the award-winning Utility Warehouse to get the best off-grid utility package in the UK. A first-of-its-kind. And exclusively, not only can you save on electricity, broadband and mobile, but you’ll also get up to 4 pence per litre off your heating oil. 1 pence for each utility service that you include in your bundle.

For a household using roughly 1,800 litres per year that’s around £70 a year saving on heating oil alone!

Heating oil savings are just the tip of the iceberg, you could also save £100s with combining your essential utilities as well.