Some North Cornwall homes saw heating oil triple, says Ben Maguire

In some of North Cornwall’s smallest villages and hamlets, up to 97% of homes are off the mains gas grid. They heat with oil or LPG instead, and neither is covered by the energy price cap that protects gas and electricity customers.

So when prices jumped, nothing caught them. Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, says those households got no help in the Budget either, and he is pressing the Chancellor again to scrap VAT on heating oil and bring in a price cap.

27,000 households with no cap

Almost 27,000 households in North Cornwall rely on heating oil or LPG, according to Ben’s office. With no price cap in place, they are exposed to sudden spikes in a way gas and electricity customers are not.

Ben says prices have doubled, and in some cases tripled, following the conflict in Iran. He accuses the Government of a “total lack of support” for heating oil and LPG customers in the Budget, and says he has been “inundated” by constituents who are seriously worried about the cost.

He has raised the issue in Parliament repeatedly, including directly with the Prime Minister earlier in October. In the footage above, he asks whether VAT could be removed from heating oil and LPG, and whether both could be brought within the energy price cap.

“I have had so many constituents contact me about the huge rise in heating oil and LPG prices, and I’m hearing the exact same worries when speaking to people on their doorsteps in rural villages and towns across North Cornwall,” he said. “They have seen the price of their heating oil double, and in some cases triple, following Trump’s illegal war against Iran, yet our Government has so far failed to give them proper protection.”

📷Ben Maguire's letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, 13 March 2026 (page 1 of 2)

What he first asked the Chancellor for

The call goes back to the spring. Ben first wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 13 March 2026, shortly after prices surged, asking her to consider three things:

• a three-month zero rate of VAT on heating oil for all homes
• an expansion of the Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme
• a mechanism to shield households that rely on heating oil and LPG from sudden price rises, offering protection similar to the energy price cap

In the letter, he said around 56% of households across North Cornwall are not connected to the mains gas grid, and that rural homes face a fuel poverty gap of £987 compared with urban ones. Many live in older properties that cost more to switch to renewable heating.

He also pointed back to 2022, saying the support brought in that year gave significantly less help to people on heating oil or LPG than to those on mains gas or electricity.

What constituents told him

The letter quotes residents who had been in touch, some of them with medical conditions that mean they need to keep their homes warm. They described the price as “running out of control” and said ordering oil was now “beyond my reach”. One wrote: “I simply do not know what to do.”

What Ben is asking for now

“Rural families are being left completely exposed by this, which is why I’ve continually called for urgent support to be rolled out,” Ben said.

“I’ve raised this in Parliament time and again, including directly with the Prime Minister earlier this month, and I’m calling again for the Chancellor to scrap VAT on heating oil for three months and to introduce a price cap, so off-grid households get the same protection as everyone else when it comes to the cost of energy.”

📷Ben Maguire's letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, 13 March 2026 (page 2 of 2)

📷Ben Maguire speaking in the House of Commons. Still from video supplied by Ben Maguire MP