Heating oil customers face tough winter
The government plans to regulate heating oil prices after increases.
Heating oil customers face a difficult winter
Nicola Sharpe said she would usually have stocked up by now, but was waiting in the hope that prices would drop.
Some people say they are struggling to warm their homes after rises in heating oil costs, driven by the US-Israeli war with Iran.
People in the South West told the BBC they have delayed buying fuel for the winter in the hope that prices might fall, and feared some people could go without.
This comes as the government announced new measures intended to regulate the market and review the minimum amounts some people must buy.
Heating fuel costs have increased by as much as 82% since the conflict began, according to the Minster for Energy Consumers Polly Billington.
Billington told the BBC: "We need to make sure the market is working as fairly as possible."
She said it was "striking" that rural communities with "so many people off grid" were "some of the most exposed" to the price rises.
Nicola Sharpe, from Dunsford, Devon, said that at this time last year she was paying about £340 for 500 litres, but the price was now just over £600 for the same amount.
"I'm looking at ways to spread the cost when I have to bite the bullet and get it," she said.
Earlier in October, the government promised stronger regulation of the sector.
Ministers said they would tighten rules, encourage competition and give customers clearer routes to compensation if things went wrong. Minimum order levels, set for some customers, would also be reviewed.
Pauline Trubody said she usually had the heat on during the day in winter.
Sharpe said she was not optimistic the government measures would make a difference.
"I can't see how regulating it is going to bring costs down."
Pauline Trubody, from Porkellis, Cornwall, said she had already spent more on two deliveries of 500 litres this year than in previous years.
The 76-year-old said: "I probably won't put it [the heating] on as much as I would have.
"There is going to be a lot of people who can't afford it and folk who are going to go cold."
Lee Fossey, from St Agnes, Cornwall, pays £30 a month into a savings scheme to spread the cost of heating oil across the year.
She said: "I have done everything I reasonably can to budget and prepare for winter, yet despite this, the dramatic increase in prices means I can no longer afford to fill my tank."
She said she faced the possibility of having no heating this winter or using the money for an alternative heating source.
Prices have surged since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran. In March, the government announced a support package worth £53m for low-income families who use heating oil.