Warmth by postcode lottery: rural families deserve better than this
We need to talk about the 1.5 million households — off the gas grid, mostly rural, entirely invisible to policy — whose heating depends on an unregulated oil market that jumped 92% when war broke out in the Middle East. The Competition and Markets Authority has finally said what these communities have said for years: they deserve the same protections as everyone else.
Listen to what 'unprotected' means in practice. Nick Weaver paid for 1,000 litres, received 500, and was offered the missing half for an extra £1,000 — his own fuel, resold to him. He fought back with letters and won, then shared everything he learned with his village, because solidarity is what you have when regulation isn't.
And Jemma McCarron names the deeper truth: 'the real solution is to stop using oil.' She's looked into solar panels. The support isn't there. A family WANTS to do the right thing for the planet and the system shrugs at them. That is a policy failure with a postcode.
Imagine, instead, a countryside of insulated homes, heat pumps, community solar — where no one's warmth depends on a tanker and a prayer. The CMA opened the door; now walk through it. Sign the petition. There is always a petition, and this one is warm.