Oil or gas for 51 square meter bungalow with two bedrooms?

[fitzykev]

I have been accepted for a heating grant and i dont know if i shoukd stick with oil or change to gas. I live in a small two bedroon bungalow aprox 51 square meters.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Oil is usually the second option, when there is no gas availability in the area.

 

[fitzykev]

I am in northern ireland and there is only two suppliers to choose from as far as i am aware. I think there is more ootiin to shop around for oil. I just cant decide what to do and need to decide by lunch time tomorrow.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I am guessing it’s bottled gas?

 

[fitzykev]

No its mains gas

 

[Tigercubrider]

I would have thought that gas would always be cheaper than oil?
Don’t know if you live in the sticks but oil can be stolen,

 

[fitzykev]

So i have found out this information...

Current market rates for January 2026 in Northern Ireland indicate that heating oil is currently significantly cheaper than natural gas for the same amount of energy (9,115 kWh).


Here is the breakdown of the costs with the cheapest available suppliers.

​

• Volume Needed: 9,115 kWh converts to approximately 881 litres of kerosene (based on the standard 10.35 kWh per litre).

• Cheapest Supplier Rate: As of mid-January 2026, the cheapest suppliers in Northern Ireland (such as TDF Oil or Cross County Fuels) are charging around £499 – £505 for 900 litres.
• Estimated Cost:
  • Price for 900 Litres (Standard Order): ~£500
  • Prorated Cost for exactly 9,115 kWh (881 Litres): ~£489

• Note: Oil prices fluctuate daily. You typically cannot order exactly 881 litres; you would order 900 litres (a standard fill) for approximately £500.

  
  
  

  ​

  • Usage: 9,115 kWh per year.
  • Cheapest Supplier Rate: The cheapest regulated gas tariff currently available is likely Firmus Energy (Ten Towns network) or SSE Airtricity (Greater Belfast) depending on your location, but regulator data from late 2025/early 2026 sets the competitive unit rate at approximately 7.79p per kWh (including VAT).
  • Estimated Cost:
    • Calculation: 9,115 kWh × 7.79p = £710.06
    • Standing Charges: Many domestic NI gas tariffs (Credit/Direct Debit) build costs into the unit rate or have minimal standing charges for this usage level, but this figure covers the primary usage cost.

• ​

 

[ericmark]

The gas boiler is typically cheaper to the oil boiler, but they do not tend to last as long, the oil boiler needs more servicing as to the gas, as the jets wear and so the pressures need adjusting more often. Also, the gas boiler tends to be able to modulate more than an oil boiler, so can better match the output required, and if not modulating type, the on/off/on time with gas is shorter to oil, so higher hysteresis with oil. You also need an oil tank, and a bond around the oil tank, and you need to order the oil in advance, where with gas not need to look to see how much you have left.

So not all down to price of oil fuel or gas, I did have gas, I now have oil, and the oil is cheaper even with a larger house, but if I had the option of town gas I would go with town gas, but would not go with LPG as that is basic a bomb in ones back garden.

 

[endecotp]

> I have been accepted for a heating grant …. need to decide by lunch time tomorrow.

Is this a scam?

Seriously: have you been procrastinating for months about a genuine grant, or did you get a surprisingly-genrous offer out of the blue that has to be agreed to within 24 hours, i.e. before you have time to discover that it’s a scam?


P.S. did you let “AI” do the price comparison?

 

[fitzykev]

100% genuine its a goverment grant in northern ireland. Yes Ai but i also done the maths to check and it matched.

 

[fitzykev]

Why would you go with town gas if oil is cheaper?

 

[gas112]

Why would you go with town gas if oil is cheaper?

historically oil has usually been more expensive than gas hence why most people when given the chance change to gas

 

[ericmark]

historically oil has usually been more expensive than gas hence why most people when given the chance change to gas

I would change to gas, as it saves checking oil tank levels, simply less hassle, but oil boilers seem to last a lot longer than gas ones, so purely money wise, oil is likely the best option. But where I live in Mid-Wales there is no gas, unless using LPG, so there are loads of people who can service an oil boiler, living in North Wales before, and finding a guy to work with oil was hard.

In Ulster when working there, it brought back memories of the Falklands, with the smell of peat burning, it is a different world, and to advise one really needs to live in that world. Electric, gas, and oil prices are not the same as mainland UK, so anyone advising really needs to live over there. It is a different world, loved the Ulster fry in a pizza box from the fish & chip shop, it was another world.

 

[endecotp]

Town gas????