Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan has called on the Government to do more to support Northern Ireland energy users as the price of home heating oil continues to soar.
Speaking in a House of Lords debate on the Energy Prices Bill earlier today, Lord Rogan welcomed the Government’s decision to help households and businesses with energy costs as inflation hits a 40 year high.
He said: “However, not for the first time, Northern Ireland finds itself in a peculiar position in comparison with the rest of the United Kingdom. 68% of Northern Ireland households use home heating oil. That amounts to half a million homes, mostly in rural areas. This compares with around 3% of households in England. And the price in Northern Ireland has rocketed.”
He continued: “Figures released by the Consumer Council last week show that the average cost of 900 litres of home heating oil in Northern Ireland has risen to £923.34 – up by more than 51% from £472.27 twelve months ago. Further, the price has gone up by £50 from £873.31 in just seven days.”
Lord Rogan told the House that the Government was promising only to support home heating oil customers in Northern Ireland with a one-off £100 payment, “and half of this has now been wiped out in the space of a week. That is simply untenable.”
The UUP peer said he was also concerned that Government support to households and businesses was only being offered for six months.
He continued: “I am well aware that there will be a review with new arrangements due to be in place by April. However, I fear these will be even less generous than those intended to carry the country through the winter. And as I have sought to make clear, in relation to Northern Ireland, they are not generous at all. This is causing great concern and worry for many.”
Lord Rogan said the Northern Ireland Protocol was continuing to do additional damage to everyday life in the Province, with businesses facing increased costs and consumers having to cope with a reduced choice of goods and higher prices.
He said: “The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland made clear that he intends to trigger a new set of elections to Stormont to try to break the logjam if the DUP continues to refuse to take its seats in the Executive. I see little good or little change coming from this although my party, the Ulster Unionist Party, will fight these elections vigorously should they be called. I urge the Government and the European Union to work together to properly address the problems which the Protocol is causing.”
Lord Rogan concluded: “There is a lack of political direction in the United Kingdom at the moment, but nowhere more so than in Northern Ireland, which has been without a functioning government for most of this year. It would not be accepted elsewhere in these islands and leadership is urgently required in the Province as the cost-of-living crisis tightens its vicious grip.”
