David Honeyford, Alliance MLA for Lagan Valley, said Stormont ministers need to devise a “contingency strategy” if prices rise further given the region’s dependency on home heating oil. The majority of households (61%) in Northern Ireland use oil as their primary method of household heating, compared to just 5% across the UK. In the Stormont Assembly, Mr Honeyford said families had woken on Tuesday to see “home heating oil price dramatically rising, instantly, overnight” and reiterated his party’s call for home heating oil to be regulated. “The public rightly will call out how quickly prices can rise dramatically, instantly, but never seem to come down at the same rate of knots. “We will all pay more at the pumps, at the tanker for oil heating every time we purchase it, not just when it spikes.

Source: The Herald March 03, 2026 13:22 UTC