‘Breathing in cold air will kill my husband – but we can’t afford a heating oil delivery’
A woman whose husband could not breathe in cold weather said that she was worried that they would not be able to heat their home after the huge increases in heating oil due to the US war against Iran.
Gail Thompson, 66, and her husband Steve, 71, live in rural Kent and paid £328 for their last delivery of 500 liters of heating oil in January. On Thursday they were offered £717 for the same delivery following huge increases in costs following the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
Miss Thompson said Independent Her husband’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis (PF) make it incredibly difficult to breathe in cold weather and could kill him if left unheated.
The couple have around 380 liters of heating oil left – enough to last a month or a few months, depending on the temperature – and are trying to turn on the heating system as little as possible to preserve their supplies. But Mrs Thompson said that due to her husband’s illnesses, they sometimes had no choice but to turn it on.
“The other day our thermostat said 14C,” he said. “When it gets that cold we have to turn the heater on or it will kill him. There’s nothing you can do to warm the air except turn the heater on. So we put it in, we had to.”
Miss Thompson said Independent Their biggest concern is that prices “will continue to rise” with no end to the conflict in sight. He added that there were many elderly people in the area who he worried would struggle with health problems in the cold.
“My concern is that prices will go through the roof, but at the same time, what happens when they can’t buy oil?” he asked. “What happens if suppliers become so scarce that people can’t afford it?”
Ms Thompson said the couple did not struggle for money every day, they had a budget and could not afford the huge increase in heating oil prices seen last week.
“As a general rule, we do not strive for money, but we are not millionaires either,” he said Independent. “It makes you think twice about buying oil.
“I can’t afford to pay £700, I can’t.”
Unlike electricity and gas, heating oil is not subject to any regulations or price caps from Ofgem; This means suppliers are free to price it as high as they want.
Ms Thompson accused heating oil suppliers of “profiteering” and said people would eventually pay high prices for having to buy hot water without even heating their homes.
“This is unfair,” he said. “It sounds like a mean word, but it doesn’t seem right that electricity and gas prices would be capped and oil suppliers would inevitably inflate prices.”
Thieves have reportedly been targeting heating oil tanks in Suffolk as prices rise. Police have urged those with heating oil tanks to take the necessary steps to keep themselves safe following reports at two properties.
The government said it would “not tolerate” energy companies exploiting the Middle East crisis for profit, while Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “send a strong message to companies that prices must be fair, transparent and justified, and not inflated to the detriment of workers”.
The UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has also launched an investigation into “disturbing reports” of sudden price increases in heating oil. It said it had written to heating oil suppliers and intermediaries “as a matter of urgency” to gather evidence and assess whether the behavior breached consumer protection laws, which could result in enforcement action.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government was working with the watchdog to tackle “any price gouging” on heating oil.
