The price of home-heating oil rose by 67.5 per cent last month when compared with February, the largest ever month-on-month increase, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The increase exceeded the previous biggest monthly rise of 58.4 per cent seen in March 2022. Comparing with 12 months ago, home-heating oil prices were up by 63.3 per cent.
The price of home heating oil was at its highest level since the CSO started publishing detailed sub-indices in 1996. Diesel was at its highest level since July 2022 while the price of petrol was at its highest level since August 2022.
Fuel protest organisers have promised another “massive” nationwide demonstration on Thursday after blockades and slow-moving convoys caused significant disruption across the country.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has condemned the blockade of the State’s only oil refinery as an “act of national sabotage”.
Energy prices have spiked in recent weeks, amid disruption to global fuel supplies stemming from the Iran war.
Kerosene is the main heating fuel for 26 per cent of people in Ireland, making it the second most important household heating source after natural gas, which is used by 33 per cent. A further 7 per cent of people use diesel, gas or oil.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said on Thursday that at least 70 per cent of the retail price of home heating oil is typically driven by wholesale costs.
“In January … approximately 22 per cent of average retail prices were made up of fixed duties and levies,” it said.
“Allowing for supplier costs and margin, this means that around 70 per cent or more of the retail price is typically driven by wholesale costs.”
It said home heating oil providers do not typically store large quantities of oil, which means retail prices on a given day are largely determined by the prevailing wholesale prices, meaning retail prices can change “very quickly and very significantly” in response to cost shocks.
The CSO data also shows the price of diesel and petrol increased by 18.1 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively in the month, while they were up by 16.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent in the past 12 months.
The national average price of diesel in March was €2.05 per litre, which represented a price increase of 31 cents compared with February. Only June 2022 (€2.09) and July 2022 (€2.07) had higher average prices for diesel.
The average price of petrol was €1.88 per litre in March, up 13 cents in the month. That was the highest average price since August 2022 when it stood at €1.91. The highest ever average price for petrol was in June 2022 when a litre cost €2.15.
The CSO said it should be noted prices for the month were collected in mid-March and before the Government measures on energy costs were introduced.
Headline inflation in the economy increased by 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to March, up from an annual increase of 2.7 per cent in the 12 months to February. This was the highest annual rate of inflation since January 2024 when the rate of inflation was 4.1 per cent.
Home heating oil contributed 0.52 percentage points towards the overall inflation rate for March. This compares with a 0.06 percentage points contribution in February last year.
It was the highest percentage point contribution towards inflation since November 2022 when it contributed 0.63 percentage points towards an overall inflation rate of 9 per cent.
March 2022 was the month where home heating oil had the largest impact on inflation with a contribution of 1.11 percentage points.
Diesel contributed 0.27 percentage points towards inflation in March, while petrol contributed 0.11 percentage points. That was the highest percentage point contribution for diesel since November 2022 when it contributed 0.45 percentage points towards inflation.
March was the highest percentage point contribution for petrol since July 2024 when it contributed 0.14 percentage points to the overall inflation rate of 2.2 per cent.
In total, fuel and home heating oil contributed 0.9 percentage points to the overall inflation rate in the month.