Home heating oil users 'ignored by Darling'

18 March 2008

The continuing plight of home heating oil users has been ignored by Chancellor Alistair Darling, price comparison website BoilerJuice has stated.

According to the website, home heating oil users are not receiving any help from the government despite the cost of the commodity rising considerably over the past 12 months.

BoilerJuice said: "There are families with young children also struggling to pay the bills and in some cases, they are unable to cover the huge price increases in heating oil and so cannot warm their homes."

The website told the Observer that home heating oil bills are now £430 (€547.91) more expensive a year than other forms of fuel.

Furthermore, over one and half million homes are unable to access the gas mains network and must rely on home heating oil to heat their houses.

An increase in winter fuel payments announced in Mr Darling's Budget last week has been dismissed by the website as "a drop in the ocean" and thus is calling for more people to sign its petition to urge the government to scrap oil tax.

Click here to sign up for the petition