There has been a request to establish a ‘fuel tsar’ to the Northern Ireland Minister For Energy Arlene Foster to help sort out the growing problem of fuel poverty. The calls were made by Mr. Alasdair McDowell the SDLP deputy leader after a poll showed that 83 percent of Belfast Telegraph readers would be in favour of it. Having someone in charge of regulating the oil industry would make readers feel that they were getting fair prices.
Mr. McDonnell asked the Energy Minister when the government is planning to do something to tackle fuel poverty. Suppliers of oil would have to operate fair pricing if there was a regulator in place and this would be beneficial to consumers. Ms. Foster’s department are expected to give a response this week.
70 percent of homes in Northern Ireland use oil as their main source of fuel so the continuously rising prices are causing some concern with residents. With the recent cold weather that hit the province fears for the price of oil were deepened as during that month as the price of 900 litres of oil rose by £25. But many feel that the consumer will be better protected by having a regulator for the industry.
However, the spokesman for the Northern Ireland Oil Federation Mr. David Blevings defended the industry by saying that it is already ‘open and transparent’. The expected global economic recovery was blamed for the recent price increase. Another factor for the increase was the recent freezing weather which sent demand for oil upwards. He said that because of this there was an increase in the price of kerosene and unfortunately this increase had a knock on effect in the increased price of retail oil.
Getting the home heated up during winter can be very expensive. Fuel such as electricity and gas show no signs of coming down in price. Clever people are switching to heating oil as a fuel though. And when this happens they have to ensure the tanks re always full of Boilerjuice to make sure they don’t run dry in the cold weather.