Iran war impacts heating oil bills for homeowners
BBCSome Cornwall residents say their home heating oil bills have more than doubled since the Iranian conflict began.
They said the price for a litre of oil had risen from about 62p at the beginning of the month to £1.30 on Friday.
Pauline Trubody, who lives in Porkellis near Helston, said on Friday she had been quoted a cost of £724 for 500 litres (110 gallons) of oil and if this trend continued, she would not be able to afford to heat her home.
Oil distributors have urged people to only buy what they need and believed prices could drop back down when events linked to the war settled.
After the conflict started, Iran warned vessels not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
About 20% of the world's oil and gas is shipped through the strait, but marine traffic has slowed in recent days.
Trubody said she felt some oil firms were trying to "make a fast buck" from the situation.
She added: "You have to look at the pennies and see how far they stretch and if they don't stretch, then what do you do?"
Ruth Goodman, who lives in Shortlanesend near Truro, said she did not understand how the high price rises could be justified.
"It's unbelievable," she said.
"If you haven't got any other source of heating, just what do you do?"
Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK & Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, said as heating oil was a kerosene fuel, it was connected with jet fuel on European markets.
Cronin said: "Jet fuel has doubled in price since the conflict and most of the reason why is because Europe last year depended on about 40% of jet fuel coming from the Middle East."
John Weedon, director of Cornish distributor oil Mitchell and Webber, said the firm was "astounded" to see such sharp price increases from major oil suppliers, but it had been able to delay increases to its customers for a short period while its stocks lasted.
He said historically, prices had dropped "rapidly" after events during conflicts had calmed.
"At the moment, we would say the best policy is to only order what you really need," Weedon added.
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