Calls for Fair Trading Office to investigate oil prices
has been kicking up a fuss about fuel bills.
Many of you may have noticed that bills for domestic heating oil have gone through the roof... some Look East viewers reporting a £100 hike between their last bill and what they're being charged now.
The Conservative member for Suffolk Coastal, along with some other MPs, has complained about the recent domestic oil price spike to the .
He, in turn, has now written to the to see what can be done to alleviate the problem in the future.
Ms Coffey says: "This problem is particularly prevalent in Suffolk Coastal where many people are off the energy grid and I have been making this known in Parliament."
How bad is it?
Well, over the last six months the average 40-45p a litre mark shot up in November to just over 70p, hitting around 73p on 21 December. It is now starting to fall away to around but with the cold snap over, you might ask, why can't prices fall as quickly as they jumped?
Thousands of people who depend on domestic heating oil have been asking whether it is blatant profiteering.
The oil companies say the price rise was down to "a perfect storm" of an early cold snap, rising commodity prices, school holidays and Christmas. They also say winter prices make up for the lean times in the summer when demand and prices are relatively low.
The is currently consulting on proposals to prioritise looking at markets affected by high, rising and volatile commodity prices and the off-gas grid energy market is clearly one of them.
The Minister wants the Office of Fair Trading to speed that up and he is "looking forward to seeing its conclusions in advance of next winter, so the lessons from this winter can be learned and any necessary changes made".
In the meantime the has this advice. Form a syndicate... the more of you who club together to buy oil, the more you'll be able to bargain and beat down the price.
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
Comment number 1.
At 28th Jan 2011, maggiemac58 wrote:Could somebody look at the price of LPG ?
We had our car converted and expected to get a reduced road tax bill but still pay the full amount. LPG was supposed to be tax free because of the 'no emissions', but the price has soared in the last year.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)