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Households off the gas-grid and prices for alternative fuels

Most households in the UK use gas and electricity as their main domestic energy sources. These are discussed in briefings listed at the bottom of this page. This briefing is about households that use alternative sources of domestic energy, including heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), coal, biomass, and renewables.

Who is using alternative sources of domestic energy?

Data on the number and location of households using alternative sources of domestic energy comes from 2021 and 2022 census data on central heating and Department for Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ) data on households that are off the gas grid.  

Estimates of household’s domestic energy sources by local area, constituency, region and country can be found in the following House of Commons Library dashboards:

• Constituency data: Central heating
• Constituency data: Households off the gas grid

Central heating: Census data

Central heating is a system to heat multiple rooms in a building by circulating heated air or water through pipes to radiators or vents. Single or multiple fuel sources can fuel these systems.

England and Wales

England and Wales’s 2021 census found that 73.8% of households used mains gas. 9.1% used two or more types of central heating, 8.5% used electric heating, 3.5% used oil, 2.5% used other central heating (including renewable, solid fuel, wood and district or communal heat networks), 1.5% had no central heating and 1.0% used tank or bottled gas.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s 2021 census found that around half (49.5%) of households used oil as their only central heating. 31.6% used mains gas, 15.0% used two or more types of central heating, and 1.6% used electric only.

Scotland

Scotland’s 2022 census found that 73.4% of households used mains gas as their only central heating. 9.0% used electric, 6.1% used two or more types of central heating, and 5.1% used oil only.

How many households are not on the grid?

An estimated 4.8 million households across Great Britain were not connected to the gas grid in 2024. This was 16.0% of domestic properties. Households that do not have access to mains gas, which is the most common way to heat a home in Great Britain, must rely on alternative sources of fuel.

Properties off the gas grid include those in remote rural areas that have no gas grid in the area and some properties in urban areas that are close to the gas grid but not connected, particularly high-rise flats where gas connections present a potential fire risk.

The proportion of households off the gas grid in 2024 was highest in inner London (26.6%) and the South West (24.0%), and lowest in the North East (7.5%) and North West (10.4%).

How has the price of alternative fuels changed?

The changes in prices of different types of energy since 1996 and since 2020 are shown in the charts below.

Average UK heating oil prices jumped following strikes by Israel and the United States against Iran on 28 February 2026. Prices went from 53 pence per litre in February 2026 to £1.04 per litre in March 2026, a 95% increase in a single month, though they have since decreased slightly.

Prices for coal, gas, and electricity have not been affected to the same degree, though the most recent data pre-dates an increase in the energy price cap in July 2026. This increased the price of electricity by 6% per unit and gas by 28% per unit. See our briefing  Gas and electricity prices during the ‘energy crisis’ and beyond for more. Prices for coal increased in 2022/23, and have been relatively stable since.

Source: DESNZ, Annual domestic energy bills (Table 2.1.3); ONS series D7DV and D7DW

Prices for alternative fuels are not regulated in the same way as gas and electricity prices. This means they can therefore vary day-to-day and between different local areas to a much greater extent.

As of March 2026, mains gas was estimated to be the cheapest way to heat a standard three-bed semi-detached house in the UK. Electric storage heaters were the most expensive. These estimates do not take into account that on average properties which are heated with alternative fuels are larger and less energy efficient than average, so have higher heating needs.

Fuel poverty

Households that use alternative fuels for heating are more likely than other households to be classified as being in fuel poverty. They are also more likely to experience deeper or more extreme levels of fuel poverty. This is the case in the different nations of Great Britain, even though fuel poverty is measured differently England, Scotland and Wales.

One of the main reasons for these higher rates of fuel poverty is the generally lower levels of energy efficiency of properties off the gas grid. The briefing Energy efficiency of UK homes looks at trends and patterns of energy efficiency for the UK housing stock.

Path to net zero: Decarbonising off-grid homes

Decarbonisation of heating in homes and other buildings is widely considered as important for achieving the UK’s climate target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The government’s January 2026 Warms Home Plan discussed homes off the gas grid under the “Rural communities” header. Discussion focused on grants under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, reporting that as of November 2025 around 39% of grants had been made to homes off the gas grid.

Local data

Information on the fuels used for central heating, including local area breakdowns, is available in our Constituency data: Central heating dashboard. This dashboard also includes maps of estimates of households off the gas grid. Further information on these households is available in our Constituency data: Households off the gas grid dashboard.

Electricity and gas prices

These are not the main focus of this briefing, and are discussed in the following House of Commons Library briefings:

• Domestic energy prices
• Gas and electricity prices under the Energy Price Guarantee and beyond
• Introduction to the domestic energy market
• What costs make up an electricity bill?