Heating oil in the UK is averaging about 119p a litre including VAT (BoilerJuice, 20 September 2026). Before the US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February 2026, the average was about 64p, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). A 1,000-litre delivery that cost roughly £640 in February now costs around £1,190, and unlike gas and electricity, there is no price cap to slow the increase.
The CMA puts the number of UK homes that rely on heating oil at around 1.5 million, and others rely on LPG. This guide covers how far prices have risen, why, whether anything protects you, and what you can do before winter. The calculator below shows what the increase is costing your household and what a heat pump would cost to run instead. If you are looking at funding, the guide to grants for off-gas homes and the energy grants and support hub cover the schemes in detail.
Prices updated — 20 September 2026
BoilerJuice’s UK average for kerosene (1,000 litres, including 5% VAT) was 119.35p per litre on 20 September, up from 89.68p on 9 June. It moves daily and varies by postcode, order size and supplier, so get quotes for your own address before ordering. Brent crude has been trading at around $100 to $105 a barrel in mid-September, against roughly $70 before the conflict began.
How much have heating oil prices risen in 2026?
The CMA’s heating oil market study, published on 15 July, found that average prices rose from about 64p a litre in February to 104p in March and peaked at 123p in April, 92% above the pre-conflict level. Prices then eased over the summer while a ceasefire calmed crude markets, and they have climbed again since fighting resumed in September.
| When | Price per litre | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 (before the conflict) | About 64p | CMA average |
| April 2026 (peak) | About 123p | CMA average |
| 9 June 2026 | 89.68p including VAT | BoilerJuice average |
| 20 September 2026 | 119.35p including VAT | BoilerJuice average |
The two sources measure different things, so compare figures within one source rather than across them. BoilerJuice’s figure averages the lowest 1,000-litre quote it can find in each postcode district, so your own delivered price may be higher or lower depending on where you live and how much you order.
In money terms, a typical home uses somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 litres a year. At 2,000 litres, today’s price means about £2,390 a year, against roughly £1,280 at February’s 64p. That is an increase of about £1,100.
Heating Oil and LPG Cost Calculator
Enter your last price and today’s price to see what the increase costs you each year, and what a heat pump would cost to run instead.
Heat pump assumptions (optional)
Estimates based on the prices you enter. Assumes each fill is a full tank, so annual use is tank size multiplied by fills per year. Uses 10.35 kWh per litre for heating oil and 7.08 kWh per litre for LPG. Heat pump figures exclude installation costs and any grants.
Is there a price cap on heating oil and LPG?
No. Ofgem’s energy price cap covers gas and electricity only, and it is reset every quarter. From 1 October to 31 December 2026 it stands at £1,723 a year for a typical household paying by Direct Debit, up 4%, with electricity at an average 26.32p per kWh and gas at 7.97p. Electricity carries no VAT until 31 March 2027. Heating oil and LPG have no equivalent: no cap, no quarterly review, and no regulator setting rules on how suppliers quote or cancel orders. When wholesale prices move, retail quotes move with them, often within days.
The CMA studied the market after the spike. Its July report found the heating oil market to be generally competitive, with wholesale costs accounting for about 83% of the increase since March rather than distributor margins. But it also concluded that the households that depend on heating oil lack protections that gas and electricity customers have, and it recommended a new regulatory regime. The examples it gave were how prices are quoted, how cancellations are handled and support for vulnerable customers. It is also taking action over about 1,700 orders that may have been cancelled in breach of contract.
Those are recommendations to government rather than rules in force, and we have not seen a new regime come into effect yet. For now, nothing limits the price of your next delivery.
Why heating oil prices have surged
Kerosene follows global oil markets. About a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and the conflict has disrupted that flow since late February. Brent crude was around $70 a barrel before the war and has swung sharply since. It fell back over the summer ceasefire, then climbed above $100 again in September after the ceasefire expired, fighting resumed and attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West pipeline.
The swings in March were extreme. One household in rural Essex paid £592 for 1,000 litres of heating oil on 20 February and was quoted £1,322 for the same order two weeks later. Martin Lewis called the price rises “extremely excessive” at the time, and the CMA launched its market study on 20 March. The underlying driver is global crude prices rather than supplier behaviour, which is why the CMA found little evidence of profiteering and why regulation has limited leverage over the price itself.
Why off-grid rural households are hit hardest
The homes most reliant on heating oil are concentrated in rural areas where mains gas infrastructure does not reach. Government figures show that about one in five homes in the East of England are off the gas grid, meaning roughly 576,000 households out of 2.84 million rely on alternative heating systems such as oil, electricity or solid fuels. Similar proportions apply across much of rural Wales, Scotland, and other parts of England where the gas network is sparse.
These households tend to be older, less well insulated, and more likely to have residents who are elderly or in poor health, which makes them the most vulnerable to heating cost shocks. They are also less likely to have access to the collective buying schemes that can provide modest relief during price spikes, simply because they are geographically dispersed.
LPG households face the same exposure with less choice
Liquefied petroleum gas is used by a smaller number of UK households than heating oil, around 150,000, but faces the same absence of price cap protection. LPG is derived from natural gas processing and oil refining, and its price tracks both gas and oil markets. When both move at once, as they have this year, LPG prices can move sharply.
Most LPG households are also tied to a single supplier through a contract that includes the storage tank rental. Switching supplier is harder than for oil customers, who can in principle buy from any supplier willing to deliver, so price comparison is a weaker defence. There is no reliable national average price for LPG, because it depends on your supplier and contract, so use the price on your latest invoice in the calculator above.
What oil and LPG households can do right now
- Don’t let the tank run low. Winter is when demand is highest and delivery slots are tightest, and ordering with the tank nearly empty leaves you little choice on price. Ordering a smaller top-up now and another later spreads the price risk, though each order is priced on the day, so this is a hedge rather than a saving.
- Compare quotes for your own postcode. BoilerJuice and ClickEnergy are the main comparison platforms for heating oil and can show wide gaps between suppliers in the same area. Oil clubs, where neighbours order together, can save a few pence a litre in normal conditions, though the benefit shrinks when the market is volatile.
- Get the full delivered price and the cancellation terms in writing. The CMA looked closely at how prices are quoted and how cancellations are handled. Check that the quote includes VAT and delivery, and what happens if the price moves before your order arrives.
- Use less. Turning the thermostat down by one degree can cut fuel use by up to around ten percent. Draught-proofing slows heat loss so the boiler runs less often, and balancing the radiators makes sure the heat the boiler produces is distributed properly. None of these need much spending, and all of them reduce the litres you burn.
If the house is slow to heat or the boiler seems to be working harder than it should, the WarmGuide heating diagnostic helps identify whether the problem is the system, the building fabric or the way heat is distributed, and why oil and LPG boilers behave differently from gas explains what is different about running one.
Heat pump vs oil boiler: running costs and grants
The current price shock is not new. Oil and LPG prices spiked in 2021 and 2022 and again this year, which makes this the second energy price crisis in four years. The pattern of sharp increases driven by geopolitical events is structural, and households on these fuels stay exposed to it unless they move to something less volatile. For most rural off-grid homes the practical alternative is a heat pump, which runs on electricity and so sits under the Ofgem price cap rather than the unregulated oil market.
Whether it is cheaper to run depends on the oil price. Take a home burning 2,000 litres a year, with an oil boiler at 85% efficiency, a heat pump with a seasonal efficiency of 3 and electricity at the 26.32p cap rate. The heat pump would use about £1,540 of electricity a year, against about £2,390 for oil at 119p. That is a saving of roughly £840, or 35%. At February’s 64p the same sums favour oil, so the running-cost case is strongest when oil is expensive, and it depends on your home, the system’s real-world efficiency and your tariff. The calculator above lets you change those assumptions. The removal of VAT on electricity is scheduled to run only until 31 March 2027, so it flatters heat pump running costs for now.
Funding is the other half of the case. In England and Wales, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme currently pays £9,000 toward an air source or ground source heat pump for eligible off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG, for applications made from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027. After that it is expected to revert to the standard £7,500. There is no income test, and your installer makes the application for you. Households in England that meet the income and EPC criteria may also qualify for the Warm Homes Local Grant, which can provide up to £30,000 through your council. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. The grants for off-gas homes guide and the full overview of current grants cover eligibility and how to apply, and it is worth confirming the details with an MCS-certified installer before you commit.
Oil and LPG vs gas: what the price cap changes
Gas and electricity customers on the cap are protected from wholesale swings until the end of December, because the £1,723 level is fixed for the quarter. The next review takes effect on 1 January 2027 and forecasters expect a further rise, with Cornwall Insight’s central forecast at around 9%. Ofgem is due to confirm the January figure by late November. The January 2027 price cap forecast and calculator covers what that could mean for a gas bill.
Oil and LPG customers face the same market disruption without that buffer. The price on your next delivery reflects today’s market, and there is no review date that might bring relief. That is why the advice for off-gas homes is more urgent: reduce consumption, compare quotes, and look properly at whether a heat pump and the current grants make sense before the next disruption. For the wider picture on cutting heating costs across every fuel, the complete guide to keeping a UK home warm for cheap covers the improvements in the order that tends to pay back best.
Frequently asked questions
How much does heating oil cost per litre in the UK right now?
BoilerJuice’s UK average for 1,000 litres of kerosene was 119.35p per litre including VAT on 20 September 2026, up from 89.68p on 9 June. Delivered prices vary by postcode, order size and supplier, so get quotes for your own address before ordering.
Is there a price cap on heating oil?
No. Ofgem’s price cap covers gas and electricity only. The CMA’s July study recommended a new regulatory regime for heating oil, but the examples it published covered price quoting, cancellations and support for vulnerable customers rather than a cap, and we have not seen the regime come into force yet.
Why is heating oil so expensive?
Kerosene follows global crude oil prices, and the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted a fifth of the world’s normal oil flows. The CMA found that higher wholesale costs explained about 83% of the rise since March, not distributor margins.
Will heating oil prices come down?
Nobody can say reliably. Prices track crude, which fell back over the summer ceasefire and climbed above $100 again in September. The US Energy Information Administration has said it does not expect Middle East oil production to return to near pre-conflict levels until early 2027, so it is safer to plan for winter at today’s prices than to wait for a fall.
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than an oil boiler?
At today’s oil price, usually yes. On the calculator’s default assumptions, a home using 2,000 litres a year would spend about £1,540 on electricity instead of about £2,390 on oil. At February’s oil price the maths would have favoured oil, so the result depends on the oil price, your home and your electricity tariff.
What grants are available for switching from oil or LPG to a heat pump?
In England and Wales, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £9,000 for eligible off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG, for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, with no income test. Income-eligible homes in England may also qualify for the Warm Homes Local Grant of up to £30,000 through their council. Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate schemes.
Sources: the CMA’s heating oil market study announcement (15 July 2026), BoilerJuice’s UK average kerosene price (20 September 2026), Ofgem’s October to December 2026 price cap announcement and the Energy Saving Trust’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance. Prices change daily, so check your own quote.
