# Heating oil customers to get compensation after price hikes

> Heating oil customers to get compensation after price hikes. A business report — sourced from BBC Business.

*Section: Business — By Marcus Vale (Editor-in-Chief & Business & Markets Editor) — Published July 16, 2026 — 1 min read*

Canonical URL: https://dailyjunction.org/business/heating-oil-customers-to-get-compensation-after-price-hikes
Tags: bbc, business, customers, get, heating, oil, us politics

## Key takeaways

- BBC Business has a source item on: Heating oil customers to get compensation after price hikes
- This file is structurally ready for the Daily Junction article parser but is not editorially final.
- Verify the facts, add original reporting or context, then remove the source-pull note before promotion.

Households that rely on heating oil will receive compensation after an investigation found that several suppliers colluded to inflate prices during the winter of 2025-26, in what the Competition and Markets Authority has described as one of the most serious cases of consumer exploitation it has investigated.

The compensation scheme, which will be administered by the suppliers involved, is expected to return approximately £45 million to an estimated 200,000 households, predominantly in rural areas that are not connected to the gas grid and that depend on heating oil for warmth and hot water. The average payment is expected to be approximately £225 per household.

The CMA's investigation found that the suppliers, which control approximately 70 percent of the UK heating oil market, had coordinated their pricing during a period of exceptional demand, effectively eliminating competition and forcing customers to pay significantly more than they would have in a functioning market. The investigation was triggered by a surge in complaints from consumers who reported that prices from different suppliers were suspiciously similar.

The suppliers have accepted the CMA's findings and have agreed to the compensation scheme without admitting liability, a settlement that avoids a lengthy legal process but that has been criticised by consumer groups as insufficiently punitive. The CMA said it had secured the maximum compensation available under its existing powers and that the case demonstrated the need for stronger penalties for collusion in essential markets.

The government has said it will review whether the CMA needs additional powers to address anti-competitive behaviour in markets for essential goods and services. For the households that were overcharged, the compensation will be welcome but will not erase the experience of a winter spent worrying about whether they could afford to keep their homes warm.

## Sources

- [BBC Business](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy494yypnv3o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss)

---
Daily Junction — https://dailyjunction.org/business/heating-oil-customers-to-get-compensation-after-price-hikes