How heating oil prices work
Heating oil is not sold at a single national price. Each supplier sets its own price, and that price can change from one day to the next. What you are quoted is the supplier's price for a particular number of litres, delivered to a particular address, on or by a particular date. That is why two neighbours can be quoted different amounts in the same week, and why the same supplier can quote you a different amount a fortnight later.
Several things feed into the figure a supplier gives you. None of them is fixed, and suppliers weigh them differently, so treat the list below as the questions behind a price rather than a formula.
- The supplier's own cost of the fuel. Suppliers buy fuel in bulk and that cost moves over time. When their buying cost changes, the prices they quote to homes tend to follow, though not always straight away or by the same amount.
- Delivery. A tanker, a driver, fuel for the journey and the time spent at each stop all cost money. Homes a long way from a depot, at the end of a long track or on an island can cost more to reach.
- Order size. A delivery has fixed costs whether the tanker drops off a small top-up or a full tank, so some suppliers price per litre differently for different order sizes. Some have a minimum order.
- Timing and demand. When lots of households order at once, for example during a cold spell, delivery slots fill up and suppliers may price differently. A standard delivery window and an urgent delivery are often priced separately.
- How you pay. Some suppliers price differently for payment on order, payment on delivery, or a monthly payment plan. Ask what each option costs in total.
- Taxes. Whether a figure includes VAT makes a real difference to how it compares with another figure. See VAT and order size below.
Published averages, such as the government statistics and price surveys we draw on, smooth all of this out into one number for a period of time. That makes them useful for seeing how prices have moved, but it also means an average cannot tell you what a supplier will charge you for your next delivery.
How to work out how many litres you need
The number of litres to order comes down to three things: how big your tank is, how full it is now and how full you want it to be. The sum is short:
Litres to order = tank capacity × (the level you want − the level you have now)
Step 1: find your tank's capacity
Most tanks carry a label or a moulded panel that gives the capacity in litres. If you can't find one, look in the paperwork from whoever installed the tank, or in the documents from when you bought or rented the home. Your current supplier may also have the capacity on record from past deliveries. If you only have measurements, an installer or technician can tell you what the tank holds; it is easy to get wrong by hand because tanks are rarely simple boxes.
Step 2: read the level you have now
Many tanks have a gauge, either a sight tube on the side, a float gauge on top or an electronic monitor. Read it as a percentage of full. If the gauge shows quarters or eighths, convert them: a quarter is 25%, half is 50%, three-quarters is 75%. If there is no gauge, a dipstick reading against the tank's depth gives a rough figure. Gauges are not always accurate, so if a reading looks odd, check it a second way.
Step 3: choose the level you want
Tanks are not usually filled right to the brim, because the oil needs room to expand and the person delivering needs a margin. Ask your supplier how full they will fill your tank. Then use that figure, or a lower one if you only want a top-up.
Step 4: do the sum
Take the target level away from the current level, turn the result into a decimal and multiply it by the capacity. For example:
- A 1,000-litre tank at 25%, filled to 90%: 1,000 × (0.90 − 0.25) = 650 litres.
- The same tank at 40%, filled to 90%: 1,000 × (0.90 − 0.40) = 500 litres.
- A 2,500-litre tank at 30%, filled to 80%: 2,500 × (0.80 − 0.30) = 1,250 litres.
These are worked examples to show the maths, not typical tanks or typical orders. Round your answer down rather than up so you don't order more than the tank can take, and tell the supplier the capacity and current level when you ask for a price.
If you have a minimum order to meet
If a supplier has a minimum order and your sum comes out below it, you can wait until the level drops further, ask a different supplier, or ask whether a smaller delivery is possible at a different price. Check the tank has room for the minimum before you agree to it.
How long will your oil last?
The honest answer is that it depends on your home and how you heat it: the size of the house, how well it holds heat, how warm you keep it, how many hours a day the heating runs, whether oil also heats your water, and the weather. Any single figure for "a typical home" can be a long way off for yours.
The most reliable guide is your own use. Write down the gauge reading and the date, then read it again a few weeks later. The difference, turned into litres, divided by the number of days, gives your daily use for that stretch. For example, if a 1,000-litre tank drops from 80% to 50% over 30 days, that is 300 litres in 30 days, or 10 litres a day. With 500 litres left at the same rate, you would have about 50 days. These numbers are only there to show the maths.
Repeat the reading through the year. Use in a cold month is usually far higher than in a mild one, so a daily figure from autumn will not hold for midwinter or for summer. Past delivery notes are useful too: the litres delivered and the dates of each delivery show roughly how much you got through between them.
Leave yourself a margin. Ordering when the tank still has a good amount in it gives you time to compare prices and wait for a delivery slot, rather than having to take whatever is available at short notice.
Why an average is not your quote
When we publish a figure it will be an average from a named public source, for a stated week or month. It helps you answer questions such as "have prices gone up or down since my last delivery?" and "does this quote look out of line?". It does not tell you what you can order at.
A quote can sit above or below an average for good reasons:
- The average may cover a different period from the day you ask.
- It may be based on a different order size from yours.
- It may include VAT when your quote doesn't, or the other way round.
- It may cover the whole of the UK, or a different nation or region from yours.
- Your delivery may be harder or easier to reach than most.
- You may be asking for a faster delivery or a different way to pay.
So if a quote is well above a recent average, it is worth asking the supplier why and getting another quote to compare. If it is below, check you are comparing like with like before you assume it is a good price.
Different sources can also produce different averages for the same month because they measure different things, for example different order sizes, regions or tax bases. We never blend two sources into one line. Each series is shown on its own, labelled with what it measures.
VAT and order size
Two labels matter more than any other when you compare heating oil prices: whether VAT is included, and what order size the price is for.
Including or excluding VAT
Some figures are published before VAT and some after. A price that excludes VAT will always look lower than the same price with VAT added, so comparing one of each tells you nothing. When you get a quote, ask: "Does that include VAT?" When you look at a published figure, look for the same label. The VAT rate for domestic heating oil is set out in HMRC guidance on GOV.UK; we will state it here once we have checked it there, and until then we only show each source's own basis and never convert between the two.
Order size
A price per litre for a small order and a price per litre for a large order are not the same thing, even from the same supplier on the same day. Some published series state the order size they are based on; where they do, we show it next to the figure. When you ask for quotes, ask every supplier for the same number of litres so the prices line up.
Turning a price per litre into a total
Multiply the price per litre by the number of litres, then add anything charged separately, such as a delivery charge or a fee for urgent delivery, if the supplier quotes those on top. Ask for the total you will be charged, with VAT, so you can compare totals rather than headline rates.
Comparing suppliers: a checklist
Getting two or three quotes on the same day for the same number of litres is the simplest way to see the range of prices on offer for your address. Use the same questions with each supplier:
- What is the price per litre, and does it include VAT?
- What is the total for my order, including any delivery or other charges?
- What is the delivery date or window, and is a faster delivery priced differently?
- Is there a minimum order, and is the price per litre different at other order sizes?
- How can I pay, and does the price change with the payment method?
- Can your tanker reach my tank? Tell them about narrow lanes, long hose runs, gates or weight limits.
- How full will you fill my tank, and what happens if it takes less than ordered?
- How long is the quoted price held for?
Write the answers down side by side. A slightly higher price per litre with an earlier delivery date may suit you better than a lower price with a long wait, especially if your tank is getting low. The right choice depends on your situation, not just on the headline number.
Read the terms before you agree, in particular what happens if the delivery is late, how the final amount is worked out if the driver delivers a different number of litres, and whether there are cancellation charges.
Finding cheaper heating oil
There is no trick that always lowers your bill, but a few habits put you in a better position to get a fair price:
- Order before you are low. A comfortable margin in the tank means you can compare quotes and wait for a standard delivery instead of paying for speed.
- Compare like with like. Same day, same litres, same VAT basis. Otherwise the comparison is not fair to any supplier.
- Ask about order sizes. If your tank has room, ask for prices at two sizes and work out the price per litre for each.
- Ask more than one supplier. Prices differ between suppliers serving the same area.
- Look at the total. Delivery charges, urgent-delivery fees and payment-method differences can outweigh a small gap in the price per litre.
- Ask neighbours. Some communities organise joint orders for several homes. If there is one near you, ask how it works and how prices are shared before you join.
- Use less where you can. Heating controls, timers, draught-proofing and insulation all affect how much oil you get through. An energy advice service can help you work out what is worth doing in your home.
We don't tell you when to buy, and we don't publish forecasts. Nobody can say for certain which way prices move from one week to the next, and we would rather show you dated figures than guess.
Help with heating oil costs
If you are finding it hard to pay for heating oil, you are not the only one, and there are places to ask for help. What is available differs between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and it can change during the winter, so check what is open now rather than relying on what was available last year.
- Your local council. Councils often run or know about local help for households struggling with energy costs. Search your council's website or call them and ask about help with heating oil.
- GOV.UK and the devolved governments. The UK Government and the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments publish details of the support they run. Use their own pages for amounts, who can apply and deadlines.
- Advice services. Citizens Advice, Advice NI and Home Energy Scotland can help you understand your options, including support with bills and debts.
- Your supplier. If you are worried about paying, talk to your supplier about payment options before you order.
This is general information, not advice. We only list a scheme's name, amount or eligibility once we have checked it on the scheme's own page, and we date every entry. Our help with costs page is where those checked entries will appear.
Winter, summer and when you use oil
Most homes heated by oil use far more of it in the colder months than in summer, when the heating is off or low and oil may only be heating water. That pattern matters in two ways.
First, your daily use changes through the year, so a reading taken in early autumn will understate how fast the tank empties in midwinter. Take readings in different seasons to build a picture of your own home.
Second, more households order in the colder months, so delivery slots can be busier. Planning your order with time to spare is the easiest way to avoid paying for an urgent delivery. We don't make claims about whether prices are higher or lower in a given month. Where a public source publishes monthly figures and we have checked them, we will show them as history, with dates, so you can see what happened in past years.
Looking after your tank
A tank in good condition protects your oil and your property. Look at it from time to time for cracks, bulges, rust, weeping joints or a strong smell of oil, and keep the area around it clear so it can be reached and inspected. Check that gauges and pipework look sound and that the lid or fill point is closed.
Rules on where tanks can go, whether they need a second skin or bund, and how they must be installed differ between the nations and depend on the tank and its site. We don't give advice on what your tank needs. Ask an OFTEC-registered technician, who can inspect the tank and tell you what applies to it.
If you suspect a leak, do not wait for your next order. Contact a technician, and if oil could reach a drain or watercourse, contact the environmental regulator for your nation.
Where our figures come from
Heating Oil Check only publishes heating oil figures from public sources that allow them to be reused, such as government statistics and published price surveys. For every figure we show the source, the week or month it covers, whether it includes VAT, the order size if the source gives one, and the date we last checked it.
We do not copy prices from supplier or marketplace websites, and we do not show live supplier prices. A supplier's price is for one address and one order on one day, so it is not something we can publish fairly for everyone.
Right now we are checking the licences and details of the sources we plan to use. Until that is done the price box at the top of this page says "We're updating our price data." rather than showing a figure we have not checked. You can read more on our methodology page.
The site is written by the Heating Oil Check editorial team. We are not a heating oil supplier, we don't deliver oil and we don't rate suppliers. If we ever earn money from a link, we will say so next to the link and on our how we make money page, and it will never change our figures or calculator results.
Questions people ask
What is the price of heating oil per litre today?
We don't show a supplier's price for today. We publish averages from named public sources, each with the date it covers and whether it includes VAT, once we have checked the source and its licence. Until then the price box on this page says we're updating our price data. For a price you can actually order at, ask two or three suppliers that deliver to your area on the same day for the same number of litres.
How do I work out how much heating oil I need?
Multiply your tank's capacity by the difference between the level you want and the level you have now. A 1,000-litre tank at 25% that you want filled to 90% needs 1,000 × (0.90 − 0.25) = 650 litres. Your capacity is usually on a label on the tank or in your installer's paperwork, and the level comes from the gauge or a dipstick reading.
Why is the price I'm quoted different from the average?
An average is a summary of many prices over a period. Your quote is one supplier's price for your address, your order size and your delivery date. Distance from the depot, access for the tanker, how much you order, how quickly you want it and how you pay can all make your quote higher or lower than any published average.
Does the price of heating oil include VAT?
It depends on who is quoting it. Some published figures and some supplier quotes include VAT and some don't. Always check which basis a figure uses before you compare two prices. We label every figure we publish as including or excluding VAT, and we never mix the two in one comparison.
Is it cheaper per litre to order more heating oil at once?
Some suppliers price larger orders differently from smaller ones, but it varies. The reliable way to find out is to ask the same supplier for a price at two order sizes on the same day, then divide each total by the number of litres. Make sure your tank has room for the larger amount first.
Do you sell heating oil or collect quotes?
No. We are an independent information site, not a heating oil supplier, marketplace or broker. We don't take orders, payments, names, email addresses or phone numbers, and we don't ask for your postcode.
Can I get help paying for heating oil?
Help can be available, and it differs between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Your local council and the UK and devolved government websites are the places to check what is open now and who can apply. Advice services such as Citizens Advice can also help you work through your options. We don't list scheme amounts or eligibility until we have checked them on the scheme's own page.
Do you forecast heating oil prices?
No. We don't publish forecasts or tell you when to buy. We show dated figures from public sources so you can see what has happened, and we explain the method so you can judge the figures for yourself.
Next steps
- Work out how many litres you need from your tank's capacity and gauge reading.
- Ask two or three suppliers for a price on the same day, using the checklist above. Our ways to get quotes page sets out your options.
- Check whether each price includes VAT and compare the totals, not just the price per litre.
- If paying is a worry, see help with heating oil costs and contact your local council or an advice service.
General information, not financial or legal advice. Figures on this site are published averages and estimates, not quotes, and we don't forecast prices. Your price depends on your supplier, your area, how much you order and delivery access. Check details with your supplier and, for support schemes, on the scheme's own page.