Oil costs no longer a worry for pensioner

Heating oil was always a big worry for pensioner Jim Nolan and he tried to save €20 a week year-round so he wasn’t fretting about keeping warm once the winter came.

For years, the only source of heating in his home had been an oil-fired range. He liked to have the range on for as much of the day as he could manage, but he couldn’t afford to spend much over €600 a year on oil.

In previous years, the 76-year-old and his wife shared the cost of heating their house at Drombane, near Thurles, Co Tipperary, combining their pensions. But in January, Marie died. And so Jim became anxious about how he would finance home-heating this year.