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Heating oil price history

Heating oil prices in May 2021

The Fueltool average for heating oil was 42.69p a litre excluding VAT in May 2021. That is about £448 for 1,000 litres including 5% VAT.

Compare prices at your postcode Prices since 2011
42.69paverage a litre, ex VAT
41.75plowest day, 14 May 2021
43.95phighest day, 2 May 2021
£448for 1,000 litres at the average, VAT included

How it compares

May 2021 against the month before and a year earlier

On the month before

-0.9%

42.69p against 43.06p in April 2021: down 0.37p a litre.

On the same month a year earlier

+40.6%

42.69p against 30.36p in May 2020 (28 days recorded): up 12.33p a litre.

Day by day

Daily heating oil prices in May 2021

Daily average, pence a litre excluding VAT, by day of May. The ring marks the lowest day and the filled dot the highest.
Day Average p a litre, ex VAT On the day before Listings counted
42.64p 0.00p 61
42.64p 0.00p 61
42.64p 0.00p 61
42.64p 0.00p 65
42.64p +0.20p 65
42.44p 0.00p 65
42.44p +0.65p 65
41.79p -0.86p 59
42.65p 0.00p 67
42.65p 0.00p 67
42.65p 0.00p 67
42.65p 0.00p 67
42.65p 0.00p 67
42.65p +0.76p 67
41.89p +0.14p 56
41.75p 0.00p 59
41.75p 0.00p 59
41.75p -0.74p 59
42.49p -1.40p 59
43.89p 0.00p 58
43.89p -0.06p 58
43.95p +1.95p 55
42.00p -0.03p 55
42.03p 0.00p 56
42.03p 0.00p 56
42.03p -0.21p 56
42.24p -1.71p 53
43.95p 0.00p 59
43.95p 0.00p 59
43.95p +0.02p 59
43.93p 0.00p 60

Figures for May 2021 run from 1 May 2021 to 31 May 2021. The month's average is the mean of these daily figures.

More months

Other months and years

Every month of 2021

May in other years

Every month since October 2011

The method

How these figures are made

  • What is averaged. Standard kerosene (heating oil) price listings on Fueltool for a 1,000 to 1,499 litre delivery, in pence a litre excluding VAT. Each day's figure is the middle (median) listing: half that day's listings were cheaper and half dearer, so one supplier's high price cannot pull it up. A supplier can list several areas and delivery options, so this is a figure from Fueltool's listings, not a survey of every UK supplier.
  • Which listings count on a day. A listing counts on a day if its price was last changed within the 30 days up to that day, so a supplier that has stopped trading drops out. The demo account is left out. Each day is judged by who was trading that day, not by who is trading now. The number of listings behind a day has ranged from about 24 a day (April 2012) to about 377 a day (October 2018). The monthly pages show the count for each day, so a month with fewer listings rests on fewer prices.
  • Months. A month's average is the mean of its daily figures. The lowest and highest day are the lowest and highest daily figure in that month. A change on the month before, or on the same month a year earlier, is shown only where both months have at least 14 days of records.
  • Typing errors. Prices are typed in by suppliers and sometimes wrongly (4050 for 40.50, for example). A price under 15p or over £2.50 a litre, or under half or over double that day's middle price, is left out: 1,236 prices outside 15p to £2.50, and a further 2,376 of the 701,945 listings that otherwise counted. Six suppliers entered prices 50p too high from 17 to 21 May 2014; those prices are left out. Two suppliers did the same from 21 to 29 January 2019, and those prices are left out too.
  • Gaps in the record. Daily records start on 27 October 2011. There are no records for 4 to 23 December 2018 (20 days), 24 to 27 December 2019 (4 days) or 19 May 2022 to 26 April 2023 (343 days). Those days are left blank. Nothing is filled in or estimated, and a month with fewer days than it should have says how many it has.
  • VAT. Every pence figure excludes VAT. Pound amounts for 1,000 litres add VAT at 5%, the rate on domestic heating oil.
  • Using the figures. Free to quote with a credit and a link to Fueltool.co.uk. Today's live average is shown on the heating oil prices today page and can differ from the latest daily record. The last two years of the daily record are also available as data from the open price feed.

What would a fill cost at your home?

These are averages across Fueltool's listings. Your postcode, quantity and delivery option shape the price you are quoted.

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