Autumn warmer and drier than normal

29 November 2007

The Met Office has revealed that the weather provided heating oil customers with some shelter from the high prices during the autumn months.

Figures compiled by BoilerJuice show the average cost of heating oil in the UK has risen by around 30 per cent in the past three months, thanks largely to the combination of supply fears and geopolitical tensions pushing the price of crude oil to record highs.

However, data published by the Met Office suggests homeowners will have had less need for their heating this autumn than in previous years.

Its provisional figures show the average temperature during September, October and November was 10.1 degrees centigrade, around one degree above average.

Rainfall figures are also well below the autumn average, as by November 25th only 206.3 millimetres had been recorded, making this the driest autumn since 1972.

However, the Met Office has predicted that the coming winter will be much wetter than average and that temperatures will be lower than during last winter.