MacAskill tackles the PM.

For Immediate Release: 23 March 2022

MACASKILL DEMANDS ACTION FROM THE PRIME MINISTER ON

UNREGULATED FUEL

AS COST OF HEATING OIL TRIPLES IN PRICE

Speaking immediately after Prime Minister’s Questions in which he challenged the Prime Minister Boris Johnson on unregulated fuel Kenny MacAskill MP said:

“Over 200,000 households in Scotland use an unregulated fuel source such as fuel oil or bottled gas to heat their homes rather than electricity or mains gas as their primary source of heating.   The families who rely on unregulated fuel are facing soaring prices and yet the Prime Minister appeared to neither understand or care about their predicament.

“It is not the fault of households who are off the gas grid that they have to rely on these more expensive sources of heating, nor are they to blame for the fact that unregulated fuel is not subject to the OFGEM price cap.

“125,000 households rely on oil as the main source of heating and yet the cost of oil has tripled in price over the last year. 

“The UK Government must act and act now.  They should not be balancing the books on the backs of the fuel poor in rural Scotland.

“That is why I am calling on the Prime Minister to intervene to explore how to regulate these unregulated fuel sources and to do so without delay.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. 17% of all dwellings which equates to 426,700 households are off the gas grid.  This figure is 65% in rural areas. (Source: Scottish House Conditions Survey 2019)
2. 8% of all dwellings which equates to 205,000 households have an unregulated fuel, such as heating oil, LPG or solid fuel as their “primary heating source”. (Source: Scottish House Conditions Survey 2019)
3. 5% of all dwellings which equates to 125,000 households rely on heating oil as their “primary heating source” (Source: Scottish House Conditions Survey 2019)
4. The cost of heating oil has tripled over the last year from 42p on 16 March 2021 to £1.25 on 16 March 2022. (Source: Boilerjuice comparison site).
5. Fuel poverty is rising in rural areas with fuel poverty set to rise to 57% in the Western Isles. Fuel poverty is defined as a household spending more than 10% of their income on energy after housing costs have been deducted. (Source: Energy Action Scotland.  News (eas.org.uk)).