“We can just about pay the bills, but we can’t live”: the reality of rising heating oil costs

If you rely on heating oil, you’ll know how quickly prices can change. But for many households, recent rises have become unaffordable.

Unlike gas and electricity, heating oil isn’t protected by a price cap. Prices are tied to global oil markets. That means costs can rise sharply, with little warning.

And recently, they have.

International tensions, particularly the conflict in the Middle East, have driven up the cost of crude oil and kerosene. In some areas, prices have surged in just weeks.

Around 1.7m UK homes, mostly in rural areas, rely on heating oil. For those households, there’s very little protection when prices spike.

“The oil price increases have hammered us”

Andrew Henderson, 68, from Rhyl, knows exactly what that feels like.

A Money Wellness customer, Andrew lives on state and private pensions with his partner, after being forced to stop work due to serious health problems, including multiple bypass surgeries.

He was already managing debt and rising living costs, but heating oil has become one of the biggest pressures.

“The oil price increases have hammered us. We have an oil-based heating system for the house, and the costs have just spiralled completely out of control.”

What was once manageable has quickly become unaffordable.

“I used to pay around £300 every other month for heating oil… That was already a significant chunk of our budget, but it was manageable when I was still working. But now, I've been quoted three times that amount, we're talking about nearly £900 a month just for heating oil.”

The scale of the increase is hard to absorb, especially when you’re on a fixed income.

“The price per litre has doubled… It's gone from around 60p per litre up to £1.20 per litre, which is just astronomical.”

“When you're already struggling and living on just pension income, these kinds of price increases for essentials like heating are absolutely devastating.”

And it’s forcing choices no one should have to make.

“We're having to make impossible choices - do we heat the house properly or do we try to keep up with other essential payments? It's no way to live, especially when you're dealing with serious health issues and need to keep warm.”

Already stretched, now at breaking point

Andrew reached out to Money Wellness in July 2025 when things became too much to manage alone.

After years of reduced income and relying on credit, he had built up around £28,000 in debt. When his health forced him to stop working, the situation escalated quickly.

“Without proper income, those debts went from manageable monthly payments to an insurmountable mountain.”

With support, he’s now on a debt management plan, giving him some structure and breathing space.

But even with that help, the rising cost of essentials is relentless.

“Right now we can just about pay the essential bills, but we can't actually live. There's no room for anything beyond the absolute basics.”

“I simply can’t afford it”

It’s not just pensioners feeling the impact.

Another Money Wellness customer, who lives in rural Kent, has relied on heating oil for six years. With no access to mains gas, there are few alternatives.

Now, the upfront cost of oil is simply out of reach.

“With the oil I have to pay up front for the order and I simply can’t afford to do that at the moment,” they said.

Instead, they’re turning to other ways of keeping warm, despite knowing it could cost more in the long run.

“I’m having to switch over to the immersion heater… I know that using fan heaters and the immersion heater is going to cause my electricity bill to be huge but I can pay that via a smaller monthly cost.”

It’s a short-term fix, but one that could create bigger problems later.

“I know that the result is that I’m likely to be more in debt by the end of the year… but that’s a problem I’ll have to deal with then, right now I need to ensure my family keep warm.”

Like many households, there’s simply nothing left to cut back.

“There isn’t anything to cut back on! [We’re] already at the very edge of affordability.”

Why heating oil households are so exposed

If you rely on heating oil, the challenge isn’t just the price, it’s how you have to pay for it.

Unlike gas or electricity, which you pay for monthly, oil is usually bought in bulk. That means finding hundreds of pounds upfront just to heat your home.

And without a price cap, there’s nothing to stop costs rising steeply.

As our customer says: “… when prices go up, they can soar very high.”

Support’s available, but will it be enough?

The government has announced a £53m support package for households struggling with heating oil costs, with funding distributed through local councils.

But for many, the help may only scratch the surface.

“I heard that it’s likely to be around £30-50 per oil user, which is better than nothing but will probably be offset by other rising costs,” says our customer.

There are also concerns about how support interacts with benefits.

“Any additional income is also often offset against any benefits received such as universal credit… I expect to be worse off by the end of next month either way.”

For some, more fundamental change is needed.

“Nationalisation of energy… That would be meaningful support.”

“It’s not sustainable”

For Andrew, the bigger picture is impossible to ignore.

“I think the cost of living in the UK is massively too high, absolutely. . When you look at household costs now compared to what they used to be, it's just astronomical.”

After a lifetime of working, this isn’t the retirement he imagined.

“It's frightening really! You work your whole life, pay into the system, and then find yourself in this position where you're just scraping by month to month. That's not what anyone imagines retirement will be like.”

These aren’t just rising costs, they’re real decisions, real stress, and real trade-offs happening in homes every day.

If you rely on heating oil, you’re left exposed to sudden price shocks, with little support and no safety net. And when budgets are already stretched, it doesn’t take much to tip things from difficult to unmanageable.

For Andrew, and for many others, it comes down to something painfully simple:

You can pay the bills. Or you can live.

Right now, too many people feel like they can’t do both.

Image: Andrew Henderson