Cost of Heating Oil Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Vikki Slade
Main Page: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)Department Debates - View all Vikki Slade's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
(1 day, 8 hours ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for the cost of heating oil.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan.
It would be fair to say that North Norfolk is quite rural. We are proud of that, and we enjoy the beauty and tranquillity that it affords those of us lucky enough to live there, but in the decades I have lived there and all the time I have been campaigning and working for the people of North Norfolk, I have seen too many ways in which we seem to be punished or penalised for rurality.
Much of the North sea gas that is used across the country passes through the North Norfolk countryside, deep underground and at high pressure. A vast amount of gas is onshored at the Bacton gas terminal, one of my constituency’s largest employers, and then sent out across the country. Despite our being the custodians of that vital resource, around half of my constituency is not connected to the gas grid. Of those who are not connected, more than half rely on heating oil or liquefied petroleum gas to heat their home and provide hot water. These homes, and the families in them, vary widely. The homes range from listed buildings that cannot be retrofitted to run-of-the-mill family homes that happen to be somewhere with no gas connection and were built long before the advent of heat pumps and other green energy solutions.
Vikki Slade
I am so glad that he made it to the Chamber in time. Will he comment on the fact that families who live in very old properties—I have properties on Charborough Park and in Shapwick that are National Trust properties or belong to old estates—are already facing much higher costs to run their homes because they are solid-wall and thatched?
Steff Aquarone
I completely agree. As I said, these homes vary widely, as do the families that live in them, but what connects all these places and people is a unique and worrying exposure to oil price shocks impacting their daily lives.
Running a home on heating oil means buying energy in advance, in bulk and irregularly throughout the year. Households know that even half-filling an oil tank will cost them hundreds of pounds. They expect and budget for that. But since the outbreak of Donald Trump’s war in Iran, they have seen the price of heating oil skyrocket far beyond the changes in the price of crude oil.