Ofgem must regulate heating oil prices, says TOBY WALNE - it'll cost me £2,291 to top up now compared to £1,000 a year ago

A long hot Indian summer has enabled many of the more than 1.5 million homes in Britain that rely on oil for their central heating to put off worrying how they might survive winter. 

The same goes for at least 200,000 properties that use liquified petroleum gas for their heating needs.

However, that won't be the case once the cold really bites – which it is bound to do in the next few weeks. 

Living in rural Hertfordshire, I am not hooked up to the national gas grid and rely on an oil tanker to reverse down my lane and fill up a tank in the garden to get my radiators to work. 

I have looked in alarm and horror as oil costs have doubled in less than a year. 

The invasion of Iran by the US in February cut off a fifth of the world's oil supply. 

With the Strait of Hormuz channel for oil tankers blockaded, prices rocketed and crude oil rose from about $65 a barrel before the war in February to $112 in April. 

Initially, after discovering just an inch of oil at the bottom of my green plastic tank when putting a bean pole inside to measure it, the challenge was greeted with a stiff upper lip. 

We would just have to put on an extra jumper or two while awaiting this crazy war to end.

Top-up pain: The price of oil for millions of 'off-grid' households has rocketed

Unfortunately, while the warm weather made it easy to forget that there was just a puddle of juice left to provide heating for later, the conflict continued to rumble on. 

Despite a dip in price in early summer, it was soon back up as war rhetoric escalated and missiles continued to fall. 

The price of a barrel of crude oil is currently stuck around $95. 

This week, I tapped in a request for 1,800 litres of oil using the comparison website Boiler Juice, which compares 200 providers - and was gobsmacked to discover a demand for £2,291 for next day delivery. 

Even waiting a week, it was £2,114. 

The price to fill the tank a year ago was about £1,000.

A cynic might suggest oil providers are exploiting the war because even accounting for changes in the cost of fuel it does not explain why domestic prices are so high. 

Such a fear has caught the attention of the Government, who this week announced 'major reform planned for heating oil sector to place stronger regulation and better consumer protections'. 

It comes following 'rip-off' price hikes and providers caught cancelling at least 1,700 orders after the charges rose. 

This led to the Competition and Markets Authority calling to 'strengthen regulation in the heating oil sector'. 

While not one for nanny state interference, there is a strong case to rein in such 'greed is good' exploitation techniques if they are being adopted by oil and gas suppliers, while still allowing them to turn a fat profit.

Industry regulator Ofgem must be put in charge – though I would personally favour them waving a hefty wooden stick at those caught misbehaving rather than a wishy-washy code of conduct approach it might be easier to ignore.

Hopefully it will mean that oil and gas users – who are particularly vulnerable and often live in isolated rural locations – will get the same price cap treatment as those who use electricity or mains gas for their heating needs.

At least then, we'll know where we stand. 

Hopefully too, any changes will make it easier and cheaper to top-up by smaller increments. 

It could be a crucial intervention as winter approaches, because many households on oil or LPG are currently feeling put off heating their homes, or rationing it - leaving the most vulnerable in danger as temperatures drop to freezing.   

Naturally, the Government cannot help but stick a righteous oar in by also including attempts at social engineering as it also wants 'extra support for home grown clean energy' – shorthand for forcing more on to often noisy heat pumps – as part of the help. No thanks.

Having buried my head in the sand for the past few months I seem to have learned nothing and am still pig-headedly holding out – refusing to hand over a single penny to oil suppliers in a vain hope peace will break out in the Middle East - and that bills will magically tumble overnight.

I might save money in the short term by simply putting on a few extra layers. 

But as the weather starts to get colder I fear cracks in my resolve will begin to appear when talk turns to Christmas – and there is a discussion about family coming to stay.

Homeowners cannot wait until the arrival of the in-laws. We need Ofgem to regulate oil prices right now.

Facing a huge heating oil bill? Get in touch: editor@thisismoney.co.uk 

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