25th March 2026
Dear Ed and Rachel,
We write to you as Labour Members of Parliament representing constituencies across rural and semi-rural England, Wales, and Scotland, to urge the Government to act and implement better regulation and a price cap on the off-grid energy market.
Since 2009, households connected to the mains gas grid have benefited from the energy price cap introduced and maintained by Ofgem. That cap — whatever its imperfections — provides a regulated ceiling that protects consumers from the worst extremes of market volatility. It is a basic social contract: that no household connected to the national grid will be left entirely at the mercy of speculative pricing.
Off-grid households enjoy no such protection. Approximately 1.7 million homes across the United Kingdom — the overwhelming majority in rural areas — heat themselves using heating oil or LPG purchased from unregulated private suppliers. These households face a market characterised by opacity, volatility, and an almost complete absence of consumer safeguards. There is no cap, no regulator, and no recourse.
We have seen the impact of this play out because of the war in Iran. Research by the Labour Rural Research Group showed that off-grid energy prices three weeks after the start of the war are averaging 117.6p/litre (equal to 11.4p/kWh) — 93% above the Q1 2026 capped gas rate.
We note that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has previously expressed concern under the last Conservative Government about the functioning of the off-grid fuel market, including evidence of limited price transparency, poor consumer switching rates, and regional supplier dominance that undermines genuine competition.
It is now time for action, and we are calling on the Government to correct these historical injustices and introduce a statutory price cap on heating oil and LPG supplied for domestic use. We recognise that the mechanism will differ from the Ofgem mains gas cap, given the structural differences between the markets. Nevertheless, we believe the following principles should guide the design of any intervention:
- A maximum per-litre or per-unit price for domestic heating oil and LPG, reviewed quarterly in line with wholesale market movements.
- A duty on suppliers to publish prices transparently and in real time, with enforcement by a designated regulatory body — whether Ofgem, the CMA, or a through a new rural energy regulator.
- Targeted supplementary support — through the Warm Homes Discount or equivalent — for households in off-grid fuel poverty, pending the longer-term transition to clean heating technologies.
We are not unmindful of the complexities involved, nor of the fiscal pressures facing the Treasury. But we would put it to you directly: the political and moral cost of inaction is higher.
Fuel poverty among off-grid households is estimated to run significantly higher than the national average. Age UK, National Energy Action, and the Rural Services Network have all documented the particular vulnerability of older rural households to fuel poverty. We are deeply concerned that without intervention, the continuation of unregulated off-grid pricing will entrench and widen an existing fault line in our society — one that runs, with troubling clarity, between those connected to national infrastructure and those who are not.
This is a solvable problem. Other European nations with dispersed rural housing stock have found ways to regulate off-grid energy markets. We should do the same.
We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you both, along with relevant officials and stakeholder organisations, to discuss how better regulation and a cap might be designed and implemented swiftly.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP
Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal
Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset Tonia Antoniazzi, MP for Gower
Lee Barron, MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire Chris Bloore, MP for Redditch
Julia Buckley, MP for Shrewsbury
Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale Torcuil Crichton, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar Jonathan Davies, MP for Mid Derbyshire Graeme Downie, MP for Dunfermline & Dollar Maya Ellis, MP for Ribble Valley
Dr Allison Gardner, MP for Stoke-on-Trent South Jodie Gosling, MP for Nuneaton
Amanda Hack, MP for North West Leicestershire Chris Hinchliff, MP for North East Hertfordshire Terry Jermy, MP for South West Norfolk
Noah Law, MP for St Austell and Newquay Andy MacNae, MP for Rossendale and Darwen Perran Moon, MP for Camborne and Redruth
Luke Myer, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland James Naish, MP for Rushcliffe
Josh Newbury, MP for Cannock Chase Samantha Niblett, MP for South Derbyshire
Lee Pitcher, MP for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West
Dave Robertson, MP for Lichfield Sarah Russell, MP for Congleton
Michelle Scrogham, MP for Barrow and Furness Cat Smith, MP for Lancaster and Wyre
David Smith, MP for North Northumberland
Henry Tufnell, MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire John Whitby, MP for Derbyshire Dales
Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr
