Heating oil has been the cheapest way to heat your home since January 2015. So consumers who have condensing boilers have made an excellent choice, and many are now able to heat a three-bedroom house for £750 a year – very difficult to achieve with a gas boiler. An oil condensing boiler is much cheaper than any of the renewable energy options.

The average annual bill for customers using oil to heat their houses has fallen every quarter for the last three years. Not surprisingly, people who don’t currently have oil condensing boilers are now considering installing them, and sales of these boilers have been rising rapidly – so much so that the industry reports that many Gas Safe technicians are now looking to add oil condensing boilers to their repertoire because they realise that the ownership of these boilers is expanding so rapidly.

Much of the downward pressure on the price is due to international politics, OPEC, shale production in the US, Iran’s politics and so on. The upshot is that there is a lot of oil sloshing around the world markets, and domestic oil looks set to continue as a great price-saving fuel for domestic consumers.

Of course, mild weather has favoured consumers. However, we need to remind ourselves that winter does not actually begin until December and that January and February tend to be much colder months.

So, it’s important to get enough heating oil in to see your household through any adverse changes in the weather. And remember that icy roads affect heating oil tankers as much as they do any other kind of vehicle, so relying on a January delivery means that you may encounter delays because of poor travelling conditions.

There have been cases in previous years where tanker drivers have had to team up with local farmers and use tractors to get heating oil to villages cut off by snowdrifts, especially if they were located down ungritted country lanes. So, don’t wait until your tank is nearly empty.

In any case, why not fill up while prices are reasonable? During the summer, it became clear that there were vast stores of oil in the US, and so the price plummeted. It’s bad news for the oil industry but good news for consumers. So, it’s a great time to fill your boots – or rather your tanks.