It will be no comfort whatsoever to Yorkshire’s rural residents that the price of heating oil – more commonly consumed in the countryside –has risen by 50 per cent in the past year.

Perhaps more worrying is that it is not covered by the energy price cap, meaning households have no way of knowing how much more they might have to pay.

It comes after the UK’s biggest domestic oil distributor, Certas, was among those that had to suspend their normal pricing practices as the war in Ukraine sent prices rocketing. Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, says that in the first ten days of the invasion, prices went up between five and 10p a day.

Such uncertainty means that many suppliers now do not allow households to order and pay for deliveries a week in advance, instead telling them the price the day before.

That is very unsettling for people in places like In Richmondshire where some 24.4 per cent of residents rely on heating oil.

Unlike those on the gas grid, people who use heating oil face the prospect that it physically cannot be delivered – the actual difference between keeping warm or going cold.

But it also comes as police forces across the region reveal that oil thefts are becoming an increasing trend.

These may only be single figure rises but to people in rural communities, such offences can be every bit as damaging as agricultural vehicle theft. There will also be plenty who have had oil stolen but who will simply not bother to report it.

Farmers and all country residents are already contending with so much – they can ill-afford this latest uncertainty.

Heating oil price uncertainty no help to rural areas - The Yorkshire Post says