UK data report · updated 30 August 2026
How many homes burn heating oil, what they pay, how much they use and how the 2026 price shock played out. Every figure here is taken from a named public source and each one is cited where it appears.
We do not publish our own price index on this page. The per-litre figures used elsewhere on this site are modelled estimates, and presenting them alongside official data would blur the difference.
The ten numbers that describe the UK heating oil market.
Heating oil is a rural fuel almost everywhere in Great Britain and a mainstream one in Northern Ireland. The census figures below are the most complete count available, because every household answers them.
Oil as the only central heating, against mains gas, by nation
Northern Ireland rises to 62.5% once homes using oil alongside another fuel are counted. Source: House of Commons Library, CBP-9838, from the 2021 and 2022 censuses.
households in Great Britain were not connected to the gas network in 2024, which is 16.0% of domestic properties. Off-grid homes rely on oil, electricity, LPG, solid fuel or a heat pump.
DESNZ sub-national estimates, via CBP-9838
of Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants had gone to homes off the gas grid by November 2025, which is well ahead of the off-grid share of housing stock.
House of Commons Library, CBP-9838
Because oil use is so concentrated, national averages hide a lot. Our county-by-county heating oil directory breaks the market down to 84 counties, and heating oil costs in Northern Ireland covers the one part of the UK where oil is the default.
The chart below is the Office for National Statistics average price series for heating oil, converted from pence per 1,000 litres to pence per litre. It runs from July 2011 to January 2025, which is where ONS stopped publishing it. There is no official UK-wide series after that date.
163 monthly observations · ONS series KJ5U
Peak 110.9p in June 2022. Low 28.6p in February 2016. Source: ONS series KJ5U.
Averaged by year, the cheapest full year in the series was 2016 at 35.5p per litre and the dearest was 2022 at 94.0p.
Pence per litre, calendar year averages. Source: ONS series KJ5U.
Every month of the ONS series, grouped by calendar month. This is a long-run average of official data rather than a forecast: August came out cheapest at 54.7p and October dearest at 58.1p, a spread of 3.4p per litre, or about 6%. On a 1,000 litre order that difference is roughly £34.
Average pence per litre by calendar month, July 2011 to January 2025. Our calculation from ONS series KJ5U. Each month has 12 to 14 observations, so a single extreme year, notably 2022, pulls its months upwards.
The practical version of this is simple. Buy before the heating season rather than during it, order the largest drop you can store and pay for, and check what a local buying group is paying. Our tank and usage calculators will tell you how long a given order should last your household.
Between February and April 2026 the UK average price of heating oil nearly doubled. These are the figures the Competition and Markets Authority published in its market study, which is the closest thing to an official record of what happened.
Source: House of Commons Library, CBP-10609.
of the March retail increase was wholesale cost. Supplier operating costs added 6%, about 2p per litre.
was what a typical 500 litre order went from in February to what it cost in March 2026.
households had orders potentially cancelled in breach of contract, costing up to £350 each to replace.
Average domestic use was 1,263 litres per oil-heated home in 2024, against 1,858 litres in 2009. Two forces explain most of that fall: condensing boilers, mandatory on new oil installations since April 2007, run at roughly 90% efficiency against about 60% for the boilers they replaced, and households cut back hard when prices spiked.
Thousand tonnes per year
Down 25% since 2019. Domestic kerosene was 51% of all UK kerosene sales in 2024, against 62% in 2019, as industrial users moved across from red diesel. Source: UKIFDA databank, July 2025.
average use per oil-heated home in 2024. At a 500 litre drop, that is between two and three deliveries a year for a typical household.
oil boilers are sold in the UK each year, each one replacing an older unit at roughly 60% efficiency with a condensing model at about 90%.
litres are the standard order sizes the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland tracks each week, and the sizes most suppliers quote against.
Heating oil sits outside the energy price cap. Prices are not regulated by Ofgem, suppliers set their own terms, and there is no standing licence condition to fall back on when something goes wrong. That is the backdrop to the CMA market study.
Source: CMA, heating oil market study.
The package was announced as £53 million of UK Government funding. The four allocations published alongside it come to £48.4 million, and the balance is not broken down in the source. The Scottish Government's £5.4 million is additional to the UK Government total. Source: House of Commons Library, CBP-10609.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland households can claim a £100 heating oil voucher, with applications opening on 9 September 2026 and closing on 31 March 2027. Around 340,000 households are expected to qualify. Our guide to the £100 heating oil voucher sets out the eligibility rules and how to apply.
Lift any of these for an article or a report. Each row names the source it came from. Please credit Compare My Heating Oil and link back if you use them.
About 1.5 million UK households rely on heating oil, according to the Competition and Markets Authority. They are concentrated in rural areas and in Northern Ireland, where 49.5% of households use oil as their only central heating and 62.5% use it for at least part of their heating.
An estimated 4.8 million households across Great Britain were not connected to the gas network in 2024, which is 16.0% of domestic properties. Off-grid homes heat with oil, electricity, LPG, solid fuel or a heat pump instead.
The last official UK-wide series, the ONS Retail Prices Index average price for heating oil, recorded 65.3p per litre in January 2025, when publication stopped. During the 2026 price shock the CMA reported a UK average of 64p per litre in February 2026, 104p in March and a peak of 123p in April.
Averaged across the full ONS series from July 2011 to January 2025, August was the cheapest month at 54.7p per litre and October the most expensive at 58.1p, a gap of about 6%. That is a long-run average rather than a forecast: a supply shock can outweigh the seasonal pattern in any given year.
Average domestic use was 1,263 litres per oil-heated home in 2024, on UKIFDA figures compiled from government data. Consumption per home has fallen sharply since 2009, partly because of price and partly because condensing boilers, mandatory for new oil installations since April 2007, run at around 90% efficiency against roughly 60% for the boilers they replace.
The CMA found that wholesale cost increases accounted for 83% of the retail price rise in March 2026, with supplier operating costs adding a further 6%, or about 2p per litre. A typical 500 litre order went from around £320 in February to £520 in March.
No. Heating oil prices are not regulated by Ofgem and there is no price cap. The CMA has recommended that the UK and devolved governments strengthen protections for heating oil households, covering how prices are quoted, how cancellations are handled and support for vulnerable customers.
On 16 March 2026 the UK Government announced a £53 million package for low-income households using heating oil. The allocations published alongside it were £23m for England, £17m for Northern Ireland, £4.6m for Scotland and £3.8m for Wales, which come to £48.4m; the rest of the package is not broken down in the published figures. The Scottish Government announced a further £5.4m of its own. Northern Ireland is also running a £100 heating oil voucher, with applications opening on 9 September 2026.
Prices vary by nation and by week. In the February to March 2026 comparison published by the House of Commons Library, Scotland moved from 69p to 113p per litre, Wales from 64p to 106p, England from 65p to 103p and Northern Ireland from 57p to 97p. Northern Ireland started lowest and remained lowest through that period.
There is no official daily UK price. The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland publishes a weekly price check for 300, 500 and 900 litre orders in Northern Ireland. Elsewhere the practical option is to request quotes from several suppliers for your own postcode and order size, because delivery distance and drop size both move the price.
Nothing on this page is modelled by us except the calendar-month averages, which are arithmetic means of the ONS series and are labelled as such. Where a figure comes from a census it is the census count, not a survey estimate. Where a series has stopped, we say so rather than extending it.
Last updated 30 August 2026. Compare My Heating Oil is an independent comparison site, not a government body and not a supplier. If you spot a figure that has moved or a source that has been superseded, tell us and we will correct it.
None of the figures above tell you what a delivery to your own postcode costs this week. For that you need quotes from the suppliers that actually cover your area.
Compare heating oil pricesOr browse all 84 counties, read the buying guides, or check heating oil in Northern Ireland.
