NI has UK’s highest fuel poverty, says academic

John Barry, professor of green political economy at Queen’s, was commenting on data compiled by Zoe Hu of the JPI Media Investigations unit that shows Northern Ireland is the region of the UK that is most reliant on home heating oil.

In total, around 1.5m UK households live off the gas grid and instead use oil to power their boilers.

But prices have risen by 50% in a year and as oil is not covered by the energy price cap, households have no way of knowing how much higher the cost could go.

The JPI Media figures show that 67.5% of households in Northern Ireland rely on oil heating.

In the Fermanagh and Omagh district, the figure is 90.2% and in Belfast City it is 31.9%.

Professor Barry said: “We are only now extending the gas network into the west of the Province and this means that many parts of Northern Ireland outside Belfast are still reliant on either coal or oil.

“If you link oil dependence to the fact that Northern Ireland has some of the worst insulated houses, Northern Ireland has the highest level of fuel poverty in the UK.”

A spokesperson from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive said: “Reducing fuel poverty and helping households to manage the costs associated with energy bills is a major priority.

“As the Home Energy Conservation Authority, we manage 27 Oil Buying Clubs across Northern Ireland with over 2,000 members benefitting from cheaper oil by regular bulk-buying.

“Members can benefit from up to a 20% discount, but recent price hikes and oil shortages are having an effect.”