Fuel Types and Running Costs
Heating Oil Price Per Litre: 108p, Twice Last October
By the Hill & May team
Updated 2026
The heating oil price per litre was about 108p on a 900 litre order on 1 October 2026, including VAT, according to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland’s weekly survey. A year earlier the same order worked out at 53p a litre. For anyone running an oil-fired Aga or Rayburn, that is the difference between a fuel bill of roughly £1,100 a year and one of roughly £2,250.
This page is the price list. It sets out what each order size costs this week, how the price has moved over the past year, what that means for a year of cooking on oil, and the few things that genuinely lower what you pay. We update the headline figures each week from the survey.
Heating oil prices this week
The Consumer Council surveys suppliers across Northern Ireland every Thursday and publishes the average price for three order sizes. All prices include 5% VAT.
| Order size | Average price, 1 October 2026 | Price per litre |
|---|---|---|
| 300 litres | £336.39 | 112.1p |
| 500 litres | £546.52 | 109.3p |
| 900 litres | £972.54 | 108.1p |
Two things show straight away. A bigger order is cheaper per litre, but the gap is only about 4p a litre between 300 and 900 litres this week, so there is no point ordering more than your tank can safely hold. And the weekly trend is down: the 900 litre average was £1,007.16 on 17 September and £996.51 on 24 September before this week’s £972.54. The live figures and every town’s average are on the Consumer Council’s heating oil price checker.
These are Northern Ireland prices, where oil heats most homes and the survey is the most complete public record. Prices in Great Britain move in the same direction but vary more by region and by how remote the delivery is.
How the price has moved over the past year
Taking the first survey of each month, the price per litre on a 900 litre order went like this:
- October 2025 to February 2026: steady, between 53p and 58p a litre.
- March 2026: a jump to 105p, as crude oil rose with the conflict in the Middle East.
- April 2026: the peak. The 9 April survey put 900 litres at £1,088.71, about 121p a litre.
- July 2026: back down to 68p on 2 July.
- August to October 2026: up again, to 108p on 1 October.
Great Britain’s official figures tell the same story. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Quarterly Energy Prices for September 2026 reports that real-terms prices for domestic kerosene and similar heating oils rose 30.4% between the first and second quarters of 2026, and were 90.2% higher than a year before. Its monthly data shows prices falling in June and July, then rising 13.0% between July and August. The next edition, covering July to September, is due on 17 December 2026.
What a year of an oil-fired Aga costs at this price
Aga’s long-quoted figure for a two-oven oil Aga is around 40 litres of kerosene a week, or roughly 2,080 litres a year. Older wick-burner models and cookers with a water boiler use more; a cooker with a modern pressure jet burner can use less. Using 40 litres a week:
| Price per litre | Per week | Per year | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53p | £21 | £1,109 | 900 litres, October 2025 |
| 68p | £27 | £1,422 | 900 litres, July 2026 |
| 108p | £43 | £2,248 | 900 litres, 1 October 2026 |
| 112p | £45 | £2,332 | 300 litres, 1 October 2026 |
That is fuel only. An oil range also needs servicing, usually twice a year, which our Aga running costs page covers alongside gas and electric models. If your Rayburn heats the radiators as well, its use depends far more on the house and the weather than on the cooking, so check your own delivery records rather than relying on a weekly figure.
To set this year’s oil price against electric or LPG for your own cooker, use the range cooker running cost calculator, or see range cooker fuel types for the cost per kWh of each fuel.
Is heating oil cheaper in summer?
Often, but not reliably. We compared the Consumer Council’s average 900 litre price for June to August with the following November to January for each year from 2021 to 2025. Summer was cheaper in three of those five years (2021, 2023 and 2025), and dearer in two (2022 and 2024). In 2026, the July low of 68p a litre was well below today’s 108p.
The honest advice is to keep the tank from running low going into winter, so you are never forced to buy in a cold snap when demand and delivery times peak, and to top up when the weekly price dips rather than on a fixed date.
How to pay less per litre
- Get three quotes every time. Even this week’s survey shows about a £7 spread in the town averages on 900 litres, from £968.47 in Antrim to £975.63 in Ballycastle, and individual suppliers vary much more than averages do.
- Order the most your tank can take. The price per litre falls with order size, and every delivery carries fixed costs for the supplier.
- Join a heating oil buying group. Community oil clubs pool orders across a village or area. In Northern Ireland, many are listed by local councils and charities.
- Do not leave it until the gauge is low. Emergency and small top-up orders are where the worst prices are.
- Check whether your cooker needs to run all year. A heat-storage range left on in August burns oil you are not using. Many owners switch an oil Aga off for the summer, or drop it to a lower setting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the heating oil price per litre today? On 1 October 2026, the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland’s survey put the average at 108.1p a litre on a 900 litre order, 109.3p on 500 litres and 112.1p on 300 litres, all including VAT. The survey is updated every Thursday.
Why has heating oil gone up so much in 2026? Crude oil prices rose with the conflict in the Middle East. The official GB figures show real-terms heating oil prices up 90.2% on a year earlier in the second quarter of 2026.
How much oil does an Aga use a week? A two-oven oil Aga uses around 40 litres of kerosene a week on Aga’s figures, about 2,080 litres a year. Models with a water boiler use more.
How much does an oil Aga cost to run a year? At 108p a litre, 40 litres a week comes to about £2,248 a year in fuel, before servicing. At last October’s 53p it was about £1,109.
Is it cheaper to buy 900 litres or 500 litres of heating oil? 900 litres is cheaper per litre: 108.1p against 109.3p on 1 October 2026. Only order what your tank can hold with room to spare.
Is there VAT on heating oil? Yes, domestic heating oil carries VAT at the reduced rate of 5%. The Consumer Council’s survey prices include it.
Sources
- Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, heating oil price checker and weekly archive, survey of 1 October 2026
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Quarterly Energy Prices: September 2026, published 29 September 2026
