Earlier this week, Social Security Minister Judy Martin announced that her department would soon provide a financial-support package to help low-income Islanders pay their gas bills after a 13.2% price hike was announced by Jersey Gas in response to rising global wholesale costs.
Jersey Consumer Council chairman Carl Walker is now calling for the package to be extended to help Islanders who use heating oil, with costs for that type of fuel also soaring in recent weeks and having risen by 25% since the start of the year.
‘We do very much welcome the announcement from the minister to investigate how the government might be able to help people pay their gas bills through the winter,’ he said.
‘The timing of these price rises could not be worse with the winter approaching. It would seem to be common sense to extend whatever measures they are considering to those who use oil to heat their home or water too, whether that takes the shape of a one-off voucher or a winter-fuel allowance. We have seen a 25% rise in oil prices since the start of the year. It could go back down again but demand across the northern hemisphere for oil only seems to be going one way, and that’s upwards.’
Mr Walker said the council, which runs the pricecomparison.je website, had picked up on sharp price hikes on other essentials, such as motor fuel, in recent weeks.
‘We are seeing prices in the energy markets climb and this has been reflected at the petrol pumps too, where the price of petrol has risen a lot earlier in the year than usual,’ he said.
‘We need to take a long hard look at how we are going to manage these prices, which are affecting the costs of essentials for Islanders.’
Mr Walker added that the council was continuing to push suppliers to explain their prices and support customers where necessary.
‘We continue to engage with the fuel companies to be as open as possible about why their prices are going up,’ he said.
‘They can’t be held responsible for global prices increasing, but they can be transparent and they can advise what they are doing to help consumers who need support.’
