Heating oil costs have more than doubled in rural communities across northern England as winter approaches, leaving households without mains gas facing bills of over £1,000 to fill their tanks. Recent figures show households across Teesdale, Weardale, Northumberland and parts of North Yorkshire are currently paying around £600 for a 500-litre delivery of heating oil, equivalent to about £1.19 per litre. In October 2025, domestic heating oil prices were around 52p per litre, meaning costs have roughly doubled in the space of a year.
The sharp increase is creating particular hardship in Upper Teesdale and other rural areas where most homes rely on oil-fired heating systems because no mains gas supply reaches their communities. Residents face difficult choices about how to manage household budgets during the cold months. Kim Richardson, who has lived in Middleton-in-Teesdale for more than 20 years, said the price of oil has shot up and is double what it was the previous year. Some households try to plan ahead by filling tanks during warmer months when prices can sometimes be lower.
Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS), based in Middleton-in-Teesdale, runs a heating oil buying group that aims to help residents secure lower prices by combining orders from multiple households and placing monthly bulk purchases. The scheme can reduce costs by around 3p per litre. Emma Spry, the manager at UTASS, explained that the buying group helps with residents' cash flow. She noted that to get a discount on oil, customers typically need to be buying more than 1,000 litres at a time, but with their scheme the minimum order is 500 litres, which helps spread the cost for people.
For some residents, however, even reduced prices remain unaffordable. Pauline Thompson, who lives locally and receives pension credits, does not use heating oil because of the cost. Instead, she uses oil-filled radiators that use electricity to heat up, and boils the kettle for hot water for baths. Without access to mains gas, residents have fewer options when heating costs increase. As winter draws closer, organisations such as UTASS are encouraging anyone concerned about heating oil costs to explore schemes that could help reduce the price they pay.