US-Iran war ‘adds €23 a month to bills for home heating oil’

Home heating oil bills have risen more than €23 a month since the outbreak of the US-Iran war , says an industry body seeking tax cuts it maintains could aid families this winter. Government is planning to introduce a new regime requiring home heating oil , kerosene, to include a percentage of renewable fuels, beginning at 1.5 per cent in the first year and rising to 3 per cent in the second. The Alliance for Zero Carbon Heating, cofounded by industry body Fuels for Ireland, argues that cutting VAT and other taxes would allow suppliers to include more renewable fuel, such as hydrogenated vegetable oil, in kerosene while easing higher bills resulting from the Middle East conflict. Hostilities have increased kerosene costs by €282 – €23.50 a month – for the 1,479 litres used every year by the average family, the alliance says. Its submission asks Minister for Finance Simon Harris to cut VAT on heating oil to 9 per cent from 13.5 per cent and to stop charging mineral oil tax on the renewable portion in October’s budget . How can tech offer solutions for obesity and weight management? Listen | 35:38 Based on a renewable contribution of 5 per cent, this would ease the impact of oil price rises resulting from the war, the alliance says. It calculates that the conflict-related increases potentially boost the Government’s tax take from home heating to €314 million a year from €290 million. However, adopting the alliance’s approach, the Government could expect to collect around €263 million a year in tax on home heating, which the organisation maintains is almost “cost neutral” to the exchequer. Current tax rules disadvantage rural families as they are more likely to use kerosene than natural gas, on which VAT is 9 per cent, the submission says. In addition, the Government has cut VAT on heat pumps and insulation, alongside retrofit grants, but has given “no similar recognition” to low-carbon liquid fuels, the alliance says. “A modest change in the tax regime will bring a 5 per cent blend in line with prices being paid last year for kerosene and will address some of the issues around the Iranian conflict and close the rural-urban divide,” the alliance says.