This page exists because the query behind it is real and the honest answer is uncomfortable. Every site that shows you a regional heating oil price for Scotland or the South East is showing you either the national figure with a label on it, or an average of quotes submitted by sellers. Neither is a regional retail series, because there isn't one.
DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices / QEP 4.1.1 standard grade burning oil / published 27 August 2026 / checked 23 September 2026 / lag 27 daysone to four weeks oldtier A
Typical price for a delivery of up to 1,000 litres, VAT at 5% included. Observed on the Monday nearest the 15th. One national observation. No regional breakdown is published behind it.
What would have to exist for a real answer
- 01A survey collecting delivered prices from a representative sample of dealers in each region, on the same day, at the same order volume.
- 02Published, so it can be checked, with the sample size and the collection method stated.
- 03Repeated often enough that a regional gap could be distinguished from a week of noise.
- 04Independent of the companies whose prices are being collected.
Northern Ireland has exactly that, run by the Consumer Council, and it is the only place in the UK that does. Great Britain has none of the four conditions met.
What genuinely varies between these two regions
What a gap would be worth if one existed
Useful context for calibrating any claim you read elsewhere. On a 1,200 litre order, a gap of 2p a litre is GBP 24.00. A gap of 5p is GBP 60.00. A gap of 10p is GBP 120.00. For comparison, the measured month to month seasonal swing on the national series is 5.90p, worth GBP 70.80.
So a claimed regional gap larger than about 10p a litre is claiming something bigger than the entire measurable seasonal effect. That is the sanity check to apply to any regional figure you are shown.
The one thing you can do about it
Aggregate the round. A buying group is the only lever that acts directly on delivery density, which is the thing that actually differs by region. It is the reason the South West of England has the strongest syndicate culture in the country, and it works exactly as well in a Perthshire glen.
Primary sources for this page
- DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices, table 4.1.1Monthly typical retail price of standard grade burning oil, the fuel sold to UK households as kerosene. Priced on the Monday nearest the 15th of the month, for deliveries of up to 1,000 litres, VAT at 5% included. This is the only official UK-wide domestic heating oil price series.
- Consumer Council for Northern Ireland home heating oil price checkerA genuine weekly regional survey, the only one of its kind in the UK. The page returned HTTP 403 to our checker on 10 September 2026, so no basket figure from it is restated on this site. Follow the link for the current week.
- Action with Communities in Rural EnglandNetwork body behind many rural oil buying syndicates.
- ONS inflation and price indicesUsed only where a figure on this site is explicitly labelled as inflation adjusted.