// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
Why some have no choice but to pay costly oil prices
Many heating oil customers are having to buy early in preparation for the colder months
As the temperature drops, some of us will start putting the heating on but for the one-and-a-half million people across the UK that are not on the mains gas network - and who are relying instead on heating oil - that decision may give them pause.
The vast majority of those people live in rural locations.
The heating oil market is unregulated, unlike gas and electricity, so any changes in the global price quickly gets passed on to customers.
Tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine are two issues currently both affecting supply which is causing prices to rise.
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Until March this year, the price was quite stable at about 60p per litre (ppl) but when the war in Iran started in March, it jumped to a high of 134ppl.
After a dip in the past few months, it is rising once again and it currently stands at 111ppl, according to price comparison site Boiler Juice.
The BBC has spoken to a number of business and homeowners across the West about how that rise is affecting them.