Consumer Council calls for heating oil price transparency

10 September 2009

The Consumer Council in Northern Ireland has called for a greater level of transparency within the heating oil market in Northern Ireland.

The organisation has noted that the heating oil market is more susceptible to price volatility than other sectors within the home heating market.

And as some 70 per cent of homes in northern Ireland use heating oil to warm their properties, such volatility can make it difficult to budget for heating bills, Antoinette McKeown, chief executive of the Consumer Council suggested.

"The Consumer Council wants to see open and transparent pricing when it comes to oil," she said.

Further to this, the council argued that there should be more innovation within the energy market so that customers have more options to choose from with regards to pricing structures.

The calls follow a move by one gas provider to lower its costs.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the cost of home heating oil in Ireland has fallen by one-third over the course of the last year.

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