North East rural households concerned about rising heating oil price
A North East man who lives in a rural community tells us how the rising price of heating oil is impacting their household.
He says it spiked after the Middle East conflict and if it stays at the same price, it will add an extra £2,400 a year to his energy costs.
Wayne Dobson tells us it is concerning for people in the community and believes we are going to see more people falling into hardship.
He said: "We live in a rural community where gas isn't an option. We have no gas, so our heating comes from heating oil. Last summer we paid over £600 for 1000 litres of heating oil. Now, if I was to buy that heating oil today, it would cost me double that price.
"Most people who live in rural communities that are going to be hit by this financial hardship, will go largely unknown and invisible because there isn't the level of support services in rural communities that there is in towns and cities.
"At this moment in time, I think the people are suffering in silence and we don't know what the price of this is going to be. If it reaches £2,000 for 1000 litres, that's a large amount of money that somebody has to find.
"If I wanted to go and get some support, I would have to navigate a 6-mile journey to the nearest town and find where that support is. If you live out in a rural community, there's no notification where I can go for that support.
"Thankfully, we're leading into the summer, but the summer won't alleviate the fact that if the price goes up to such an extent that people will turn off their cooking facilities and start to think about how they can provide that food for themselves and cook for themselves from other resources."