Heating Oil Prices: Rural Areas Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Graham Leadbitter
Main Page: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)Department Debates - View all Graham Leadbitter's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Heating Oil Prices: Rural Areas
Graham Leadbitter Excerpts(4 days, 17 hours ago)
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Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)
I congratulate the Member across the Moray Firth from me, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), on securing this debate.
In Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, 44% of homes are off the gas grid, and over 60% rely directly on oil central heating—more than triple the Scottish national average and nearly six times the UK average. Across Scotland as a whole, 142,000 households depend on heating oil to keep warm, yet while grid-connected homes have an energy price cap, which in itself is going to see a huge increase, off-grid households have no such protection.
Heating oil is an unregulated market, leaving consumers massively exposed to price volatility. When prices reached 123p per litre, an average household using 2,000 litres faced an annual bill of nearly £2,600—more than £869 higher than the main energy price cap, and that does not include electricity on top. A pensioner in Findhorn wrote to me after paying £1,205 for just 1,000 litres of kerosene, describing it as simply unsustainable. Pensioners with severe medical conditions report orders exceeding £900 per tank, forcing them to choose between heating their homes and buying basic essentials.
Powers over energy market regulation and consumer protection remain with Westminster, yet Ministers refuse to institute price caps or regulate minimum delivery thresholds. That underscores a fundamental truth: Scotland is an energy-rich nation, yet under Westminster control, forgotten homes are left out in the cold.
Graham Leadbitter
No, I will finish.
With independence, Scotland would take full control over energy market regulation, price caps and consumer protection, preventing such a crisis from happening in the first place.