500 litres is the smallest order most UK suppliers will take, and it is what a household orders when the tank is low and money is tight. At 90.01p a litre that is GBP 450.05.
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. The published figure covers deliveries up to 1,000 litres, so it is the right benchmark for a 500 litre order but not the rate you will necessarily be quoted.
300 litres
GBP 270.03
500 litres
GBP 450.05
900 litres
GBP 810.09
1,000 litres
GBP 900.10
The small order premium, and why we do not put a number on it
A delivery has a fixed cost before a single litre comes off the tanker: the driver, the vehicle, the round scheduling, the drop itself. Halving the volume does not halve that. So a 500 litre order carries a higher pence per litre than a 1,000 litre one at the same supplier on the same day.
We do not publish a national figure for that premium, because no public series measures it. Anyone who gives you one has either taken it from a seller or made it up. What you can do instead is measure it yourself in one phone call, by asking for the rate at 500 and at 1,000 litres before you commit to either.
Is 500 litres above the minimum?
Yes, at the three UK distributors we checked on 10 September 2026. Certas Energy states an order range of 500 to 5,000 litres. Watson Fuels takes 500 to 3,500 litres. Rix sets its floor at depot level. None of the three publishes a rate card, which is why this site carries no UK supplier price table.
How long 500 litres lasts
500 litres is roughly 5,226 kilowatt hours of delivered energy, or about 4,703 kilowatt hours of useful heat through a boiler running at 90%. For a solid wall cottage in a cold month that is weeks rather than months. Work it from your own burn rate on the fill desk rather than from an average.
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.
- VAT rates on domestic fuel and powerDomestic heating oil is charged at the reduced rate of 5% on qualifying quantities.
- 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.
- HMRC fuel duty ratesKerosene used for heating is charged at a nil rate of duty. Gas oil carries the rebated rate.