Political instability across the world, caused by a toxic combination of war and the Covid crisis, has had disastrous consequences for many household budgets.
So, could there finally be some light at the end of this long dark tunnel?
The data from the latest Sutherland Tables suggests there might be. In Great Britain, the general price trend appears
to be downward. While there have been some increases compared to the last quarter, all prices are lower than a year ago.
In the case of heating oil and wood pellets, annual average prices are over £400 less than last year, and oil is at its lowest price since December 2021, below even the long-term four-year average. Irrespective of where you live, oil is the overall cheapest heating option.
In Great Britain, electricity and gas prices have been affected by the Energy Price Cap, which sets a limit on how much suppliers can change. Both rose significantly between September and December, though much less than in 2023. However, in Northern Ireland, where the cap doesn’t apply, average prices were even higher.
In Northern Ireland and RoI, the price of LPG has also increased.
Looking ahead, there are promising signs that the trend towards generally lower oil prices will continue. Crude oil is predicted to fall further in price through 2025 and into 2026, with production increasing across the world – and likely to be stimulated further by President Trump’s “drill baby drill” comments, although whether that’s good news for our warming planet is another matter.
Future gas and electricity prices are less easy to predict. They may increase slightly in the short term, and it may take several years for them to return to pre-2020 levels. OI-SPring-25-Pricing-page
