Families face bills of €1,600 to heat their homes this winter as soaring energy prices threaten to wipe out workers’ budget tax gains.
Home heating oil prices rose by 58.6 per cent in September when compared with the same month last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released on Thursday show.
Sharp rises in energy prices sparked by the US-Iran war helped drive up the cost of living by 4.1 per in the 12 months to September, the highest increase in two years, according to the CSO.
The cost of filling a 1,000 litre domestic oil tank now varies between €1,500 and €1,600, according to Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website, Bonkers.ie.
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“It’s gone up €250 since the start of August and €400 since June and July,” he added.
Around 700,000 homes across the Republic use this oil as their primary source of heating their homes.
News of the increase comes as householders prepare for the winter, when the need for home heating is at its greatest.
Home heating oil prices rose by 7.2 per cent from August to September alone, the CSO noted.
Rises in heating oil, natural gas and motor fuel costs could wipe out most of what workers will gain through tax cuts and other benefits announced this week in Budget 2026.
Those gains will simply “help people to stand still”, the consumer advocate remarked of the measures announced by Minister for Finance, Simon Harris, on Tuesday.
The US-Iran war, a resulting squeeze on global refining capacity and a weakening in the value of the euro against the dollar, are combining to drive up the price of the kerosene used by Irish people to heat their homes, Cassidy explained.
Motorists also continued to deal with sharp price increases on forecourts, according to CSO.
Petrol prices were 14 per cent higher in September than a year earlier, while diesel rose by 22 per cent. This was against a backdrop of a renewal in air strikes by the US on Iran and the absence of a deal that would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease trade blockages.
Diesel cost €2.06 a litre on average in the Republic last month while petrol cost €1.96 a litre.
The CSO does not publish national average prices for home heating oil.
“In the month of September we saw significant price movements for fuel and home heating oil,” Anthony Dawson, a statistician in the CSO’s prices division acknowledged.
The CSO’s Consumer Price Index, which measures the cost of living in the Republic, rose 4.1 per cent year-on-year in September, the office confirmed on Thursday.
The most significant increases in the 12 months to September were in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, Dawson noted.
Dermot Daly, EY Ireland consumer products and retail lead, said the jump in energy prices in the latest CSO data is “particularly noteworthy”.
“Consumers have shown resilience – household spending is likely to grow 2.5 per cent after inflation this year – but many will have to prioritise essential purchases while taking a more considered approach to discretionary spending,” he said.
“As we move closer to the important Christmas trading period, retailers will be hoping that consumer spending remains resilient despite ongoing cost pressures.
The CSO’s Dawson confirmed that the 4.1 per cent rise in the cost of living was the highest since September 2024, when the increase was also 4.1 per cent.
The Government this week increased the social welfare fuel allowance by €5 to €43 a week in Budget 2026.
It also cut carbon taxes levied on home heating oil to €48.50 a tonne for the current Government’s remaining term in office.
