'Most of my pension has gone on home heating oil'

Many households across Northern Ireland have been hit by the huge price increase in home heating oil, with one pensioner spending almost all of her monthly pension on one refill.

In Northern Ireland, the average price of 500 litres of home heating oil saw a 45% increase in just one week.

Pauline Buller said she had to pay £786 for 800 litres of oil - a rise of more than £300 in just days.

"I'm a pensioner, we get paid every four weeks - my oil fill has just taken three and a half weeks of my four weeks," said Pauline.

She added: "We're lucky in that we're two pensioners.

"If you can imagine a single pensioner in their own house, how on earth are they going to feed themselves as well as getting oil?

"If you've no other income other than a four-weekly pension coming in, you're stuffed."

Living in the County Antrim village of Aghalee, Pauline said there is no other real alternative to using home heating oil.

With the price increase in home heating oil hitting so many homes in Northern Ireland, BBC News NI speaks to some of those affected and looks at everything you need to know.

'I paid £286 and it's now £526'

Gareth Barker, who lives in Portadown, was concerned about what was about to happen in the Middle East so ordered home heating oil on Saturday.

"We had filled up before Christmas, but we just about had room for what I bought on Saturday - 400 litres," he said.

"We paid £286 for 400 litres on Saturday and that was delivered first thing on Monday morning and it subsequently has gone up to £526 when I checked the same company yesterday [Thursday]."

He said he knows of elderly people who would have their heat on most of the day.

"If you're elderly you're going to want your heating on at some point in the day but at what point do people turn round and say I have to choose between heating and eating?" he said.

'A lot of fear out there'

In Londonderry, Eilish O'Doherty works for Older People North West, a drop-in centre for elderly people.

She said there is "an awful lot of fear out there" about the rising cost of home heating oil.

"It has been a very cold and damp winter, they were panicking any way - hopefully the spring kicks in now and the weather gets a bit warmer," she said.

"But even at that they're saying it's going to cost them the same to heat their homes when the temperature does get higher than a month or fortnight ago.

"So they're facing a very uncertain period of time and it's caused an awful lot of worry amongst older people."

How many in NI use home heating oil?

Almost two-thirds of homes (62.5%) in Northern Ireland use oil for heating - the highest proportion of UK nations.

According to the Consumer Council, about 500,000 homes in NI use heating oil and about 284,000 natural gas.

Some oil companies are doing what they can to help customers.

ABC Fuels in Craigavon is offering regular elderly customers help with refills if they have been caught out by the price hike.

"The older generation are actually quite good at keeping their oil topped up, but there are a few pensioners that can't afford to do that, so buy smaller amounts when they can," the company's Chris Lavery said.

"They may have budgeted for a certain amount, but find it out of reach with the sharp increases.

"We are giving our regular elderly customers a bit of time to pay if they need it to save them going without.

"Also, a lot are not able to check their own levels, so we will call in and check it for them when we are in the area to give them a bit of reassurance."

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has an oil savings network which is free to join and open to all households who either own or rent their home.

However, it is temporarily suspended.

The Housing Executive's assistant director of sustainable homes, Emma Stubbs, said as prices remain volatile and suppliers are experiencing increased demand, "it is difficult to operate as normal".

How much is home heating oil in Northern Ireland?

On 5 March, the average price for 300, 500 and 900 litres was £347, £556 and £948 respectively.

That compared to £202, £307 and £537 the previous week.

Why do so many in NI rely on home heating oil?

Prof David Rooney, from Queen's University Belfast's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, researches energy systems.

He said the gas industry in Great Britain has much more history behind it, while Northern Ireland was slow to catch up.

"It grew quickly in GB during the 1970s due to the North Sea fields, but gas was only introduced to Northern Ireland in 1996," he explained.

"The grid is still being developed here and even places like Lisburn only had the option in the last few years."

He said that as a result there is an issue of convenience for users.

"Basically, if a boiler lasts you 15 years or so then you will likely wait quite some time to consider swapping out oil for gas," he said.

"This is where the incentives are needed and price comes into play.

"On average oil is cheaper to use for heating than gas, so you will need to want to pay more because it is lower carbon, smaller footprint and cheaper than electric cooking etc."

Another issue is the rural urban split in Northern Ireland versus England.

"While around 85% of the population in England live in urban areas, that reduces to around 64% in Northern Ireland," Prof Rooney said.

"The more rural you are the more likely you are to use oil."

Why does the Utility Regulator not look at oil prices?

Northern Ireland's Utility Regulator is responsible for regulating the electricity, gas, water and sewerage industries in Northern Ireland, but not home heating oil.

John French, chief executive of the Utility Regulator, said "regulation is what we do, if the assembly was to decide that oil was to be regulated [we would]".

"If politicians wanted us to regulate the home heating oil market we could do that, so it's really a political decision to decide whether heating oil is regulated.

"But we cannot reduce the price below what the fundamentals of the market is."

What will happen to gas prices?

French said what happens with gas prices depends on how long the current conflict in Iran lasts.

"If it lasts a month, gas prices shouldn't rise rapidly," he said.

"But when we saw the price increases after the Ukraine war when it was a sustained price increase you might see price increases in the gas market and the electricity market.

"Heating oil is like your petrol pump, you pay what's on the price, what gas companies do is they spread it, so they buy a little bit every month for 24 months, 18 months

"So the gas you're using today, some of it was bought 24 months ago.

"There shouldn't be the spikes that you see in petrol and diesel and heating oil."