Heating oil customers face tough winter

Sharpe said she was not hopeful the government measures would help.

"I can't see how regulating it is going to bring costs down."

Pauline Trubody, from Porkellis, Cornwall, said she had already spent more on two deliveries of 500 litres this year compared to previous years.

The 76-year-old said: "I probably won't put it [the heating] on as much as I would have.

"There is going to be a lot of people who can't afford it and folk who are going to go cold."

Lee Fossey, from St Agnes, Cornwall, pays £30 a month into a savings scheme to spread the cost of heating oil throughout the year.

She said: "I have done everything I reasonably can to budget and prepare for winter, yet despite this, the dramatic increase in prices means I can no longer afford to fill my tank."

She said she faced the prospect of having no heating this winter or using the money for an alternative heating source.

Prices have soared since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran. In March, the government announced a support package worth £53m for low-income families who use heating oil.