Cost of Heating Oil

Debate between Martin McCluskey and Pippa Heylings

Wednesday 15th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Martin McCluskey]

Well, the hon. Member was a Member of the party that was last in government, let me say that, and I find it difficult to listen to him tell us about the lessons that we should have learned. We should never have been in this position, and we should not be in a position again where we are facing higher energy prices because of an international situation, and where we are having to deal with an unregulated market in heating oil. I argue that the then Government should have looked at this in 2022 and determined what action needed to be taken.

I will explain what we have done so far. The CMA is conducting an investigation at speed. These investigations normally take around a year, but it is going to conduct this one within 12 weeks. It has already completed the evidence-gathering stage, and it is now in the process of examining that evidence. I hope that it will come forward with the report in June. The Prime Minister has been clear that we will look at what comes forward from the CMA and examine the case for regulation.

Hon. Members across the Chamber have spoken about a price cap, but I do not want to prejudge the work of the CMA. There have also been suggestions about minimum orders and price guarantees—there a number of different proposals on the table—but we have to ensure that we make the right decision, and do not end up with unintended consequences that could make the situation worse. In a market with a large number of players, many of which are quite small rural businesses, it is especially important that we do not make the situation any worse. We are looking at a range of options.

The Chancellor has written to the CMA to ask that it remains vigilant across heating oil prices and tackles any unjustified increases that it might find. The Government are also in daily contact with industry to understand the drivers of recent price movements. We have reminded heating oil distributors of their commitments under the trade association code of practice.

[Pippa Heylings]

Does the Minister have a timescale for when he expects the review of the market and any recommendations to come back from the CMA? When will the Government enact them? Will they be part of the energy independence Bill, or is there another way in which they could come into effect quite quickly?

[Martin McCluskey]

I hope the report will come back to us some time in June, and then we will examine it to determine what may be required in terms of further action. I want us to move as quickly as possible. I have another meeting with the chief executive of the CMA tomorrow to discuss progress on the market investigation and ensure that work is carrying on at the pace that we want. We are not moving slowly. We have already accelerated this process—it was a year, and it is now 12 weeks. That is significant, but we obviously want it to move as quickly as possible.

Let me turn to the wider structural issues that we face in the energy sector. We recognise that the heating oil sector is under-regulated. Unlike gas and electricity, heating oil is not regulated by Ofgem, and we will put that right by exploring what regulations are needed to protect consumers and get them a better deal.

Taking a step back, ongoing events provide us with yet another clear reminder that we must get off the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel markets and on to the path of clean, home-grown energy that we control. We will learn the correct lessons from the crisis, unlike the previous Government, who went through the situation in 2022 and did not. In our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower, we have already brought in £90 billion of investment in clean British energy. In the light of spiking oil and gas prices, we intend to go further and faster in the pursuit of national energy security.

We are bringing forward the next renewables auction, just months after the most successful auction that we have ever had, which secured enough power for the equivalent of 16 million homes. We are making plug-in solar available for the first time in Britain so that families can buy a low-cost panel straight from a supermarket and set it up on their balcony or in their garden.

We are speeding up delivery of the £15 billion warm homes plan. I heard what many Members said about the fabric of housing. There is obviously support within the £5 billion that we have set aside for low-income schemes, but there is also work going on about low interest and no interest consumer loans. I am trying to accelerate that work so that we can get that to people as soon as possible.

[Pippa Heylings]

We welcome the publication of the warm homes plan, but we have not received details of what will replace the energy company obligation 4 programme, which was run through local authorities. Can the Minister tell us when he expects that detail to be available? Will it be published ahead of the winter so that it can be applied and homes can be upgraded?

[Martin McCluskey]

As the hon. Lady knows, the Department runs a range of programmes. We took the decision to abolish ECO4 because it was not working effectively. In some cases, it was costing more to find people who needed the measures than it was to deploy the measures. The Department has been provided with an additional £1.5 billion, which took the total up to £15 billion for this financial year. That money is being deployed through the local government schemes—the warm homes social housing fund and the warm homes local grant. That is enhancing what has already been provided to low-income households through the Department.

As I say, £2.7 billion of capital is being deployed to provide low interest or no interest consumer loans. We need to accelerate that. At the moment, we are probably looking at early next year, but I would like to see that come forward so that we can use those consumer loans as a response to the current situation. We know that there is significant demand for home upgrades, including solar, battery and heat pumps, but we have to give people the support they need to take up those options.

We will speed up the delivery of the £15 billion warm homes plan—the largest home upgrade programme in British history—and we are reforming nuclear regulations following the Fingleton review so that we can fast-track new nuclear power stations.

Heating Oil Support

Debate between Martin McCluskey and Pippa Heylings

Monday 16th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

We welcome the Government finally taking action to protect households from soaring energy costs due to the middle east crisis, following calls from those on the Liberal Democrat Benches and MPs of all parties. However, today’s intervention is a sticking-plaster solution, with too many households potentially falling through the cracks and not receiving support. We have heard that those families who must use oil for heating are the most exposed and defenceless, caught in the crossfire of Russia’s war in Ukraine and now the volatility in the middle east.

The heating oil market needs regulating. The Liberal Democrats are calling for the immediate introduction of a three-month VAT holiday on heating oil, as well as a proper price cap, because these households deserve the same protection as those that use gas and electricity. The real way to protect households and businesses is not by parroting Trump’s “Drill, baby, drill” mantra and buckling in for more roller-coaster rides that burn a hole in people’s pockets but by accelerating the transition to secure, home-grown clean energy that we control and extending preferential treatment to the warm homes plan, to help those homes that use heating oil to electrify and get off volatile fuel that we do not control.

Will the Government agree with the Liberal Democrats and set a price cap for heating oil to shield off-grid households? Also, if the Government want to provide targeted support, will they learn the lessons from the covid pandemic and the 2022 energy crisis and immediately enact a data-sharing scheme between Departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHS, and devolve this to local authorities to enable them to deliver targeted support to those who need it the most through, right now, the crisis and resilience fund that they want to be adopted on 1 April?

[Martin McCluskey]

I thank the hon. Lady for her constructive tone, for working together on some of this, and in particular for her comments on the need to move towards a transition to ensure our energy security and, ultimately, to lower bills.

On the hon. Lady’s point about a cap, the market for heating oil, as she will know, is very different from the market for electricity and gas. The reason that the price cap was introduced many years ago was the potential loyalty penalty that existed, whereby consumers who were with an individual company for a long time were penalised for that. Heating oil, by contrast, is supplied through a highly competitive market. That is why we have asked the CMA to look at this in more detail and we will examine its findings to establish what regulation may be required.

On the hon. Lady’s comments regarding the warm homes plan, the low income fund will target many of those people. She may also be interested to know that about 50% of the grants given out under the boiler upgrade scheme are to rural homes, many of which will be in this situation, that are transitioning from oil heating to electrified heating through a heat pump.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin McCluskey and Pippa Heylings

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and happy new year.

It is freezing outside and, tragically, more than 4,000 households in my constituency are living in fuel poverty. The Government’s decision to cut the energy company obligation, which was the key mechanism for delivering home insulation and energy efficiency, without any details about what will replace it, risks pushing more families into fuel poverty. The businesses and supply chains that have fulfilled ECO contracts for more than a decade have been left in limbo. Again, we have heard no date for the plan. Will the Secretary of State or the Minister finally say when it will be released, thus ending uncertainty for businesses and the suffering of households?

[Martin McCluskey]

The warm homes plan will be published soon and I look forward to conversations with the hon. Member about how we roll out its ambitious measures. ECO did not target those in fuel poverty successfully enough—we spent far too much on something that did not deliver the right results. Instead, the warm homes plan will provide £1.5 billion of additional capital support, targeted at people on low incomes. That is in addition to, for example, local authority grants, which target billions of pounds at low-income households. However, I am more than happy to have further conversations with the hon. Member when the warm homes plan is published.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin McCluskey and Pippa Heylings

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat party.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

I welcome the new Ministers to their place—I look forward to working with them—and I congratulate the Secretary of State and the Minister for Energy on holding on to their posts, which we are glad to see.

One of the best ways to bring down household bills is to help homeowners and small businesses make their properties cheaper to warm and to power. The Liberal Democrats have put forward a plan to do that by introducing a windfall tax on the big banks, which have seen billions of pounds in unexpected profits as a result of the quantitative easing programme by the Bank of England more than a decade ago. Does the Secretary of State agree with the Liberal Democrats that we should instead use those excess profits to fund green affordable loans of up to £20,000 for households and up to £50,000 for businesses and community groups, and cut people’s power bills for good?

[Martin McCluskey]

Having been in this job for only four and half weeks, I am always in the market for good ideas, whichever part of the House they come from. The £13.2 billion warm homes plan will do exactly what the hon. Lady wants us to do—safely insulating homes and getting people to take the action we need them to take to achieve clean power 2030. Importantly, the plan will create homes, businesses and properties that are warm and affordable, powered by sustainable clean energy.