By Christina Stavrinou
In other times, winter meant a warm home and comfort. Today it means anxiety over the electricity bill, counting litres of heating oil and heating just one room. Inflation has been squeezing family budgets for months, and the cost of basic goods and services weighs on everyday life. Heating now adds to a list of expenses that is making things increasingly difficult for households. The numbers are relentless. Compared with last year, the price of heating oil has soared by around 61% and electricity by almost 18%. Under these circumstances, people are forced to count every cent. They are working out how many hours they can keep their homes warm and what they will have to go without to get through this winter.
The situation is even harder in mountain communities, where the cold arrives earlier, temperatures are much lower and heating is needed for longer. The cold is already showing its teeth, and the cost of keeping warm is becoming unbearable. Families are being forced to cut back on outings and other daily expenses, pensioners are heating just one room, and households are buying smaller quantities of heating oil as they try to get through the winter. Politis looks at the difficulties people face, hears from residents and reports on the picture at fuel stations, where orders for heating oil remain noticeably down.
€300 more for 500 litres
The average price of heating oil has now reached €1.595 a litre, and at some fuel stations it even exceeds €1.680, against €0.99 in the same period last year. That is an increase of around 61%, which translates into an extra 60 cents for every litre of heating oil.
For example, buying 500 litres, which last year would have cost around €495, now requires almost €795. In other words, a household will need to spend around €300 more for the same amount of fuel.
Electricity up 18%
The cost of electricity has also risen, despite the reduction in VAT. As the spokeswoman for the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC), Christina Papadopoulou, told Politis, the price of electricity for October 2026 stands at 33 cents per kilowatt hour, including the reduced VAT rate of 5% currently in force. In November 2025, the corresponding price was 28 cents per kilowatt hour, with VAT at 9%. In other words, in the space of about a year the price rose by 17.9%, even though VAT was cut by four percentage points.
LPG prices step on the gas too
Meanwhile, the average retail price of a 10kg LPG cylinder rose by around 17.6% in a year, according to the Basic Consumer Goods Price Observatory. The indicative price of a cylinder now stands at €20, compared with around €17 in September 2025.
Firewood up €60 per cubic metre
As for firewood, prices on the market are approaching €199 per cubic metre of olive wood, whereas last year there were offers at around €140. The difference reaches €59 per cubic metre. However, these offers are not a single price index, as the cost varies depending on the type of wood.
€6,000 a year for heating
Behind the prices and percentages lies a much harsher reality, a daily dilemma. How many hours should I switch the heating on? How many litres of heating oil can I afford? What other needs will I have to cut back on to keep the house warm? Especially in mountain areas, where the cold lasts longer and temperatures drop significantly, saving on heating does not simply mean less comfort. It can mean that a family or an elderly person will have to spend part of the winter in a cold house.
One example is enough to show the scale of the burden. In a 100 square metre home in the mountains, where the oil boiler runs for at least six hours a day, monthly consumption under this scenario is estimated at between 450 and 750 litres. At today’s average price, that comes to between €718 and €1,196 a month. If the same needs continue for five months, the total bill could reach between €3,590 and €5,980. These are sums that can absorb a large part of a family’s income or far exceed what a low-income pensioner can afford. Worse still, the monthly cost of heating is comparable to the national minimum wage.
A cold winter ahead in the mountains
A family living in a mountain area told Politis that last year it spent just over €1,000 heating its home for the whole winter. It managed to keep the cost at that level by using heating oil very sparingly. This year, it decided to buy a smaller quantity of fuel, yet it expects to pay roughly the same amount as in previous years.
The family plans to keep using its heating sparingly and to wait and see how prices develop before deciding whether to place another order. In this way, it is trying to spread the cost over more months, rather than taking on the expense of filling the whole tank at the start of winter.
LPG bought in advance
A retired couple, also living in a mountain area, use a fireplace and LPG heaters during the winter. To limit the cost, the two pensioners had bought a substantial stock of LPG cylinders when prices were noticeably lower. However, this supply does not ease their concern about the months ahead, as they already struggle to make their pension last until the end of the month. If they have to buy more LPG at higher prices, they will be forced to cut back on other basic expenses.
Fear of further increases
A family of three living in an urban area with oil-fired central heating has done the same. As they told us, they have already bought part of the heating oil they need. They took this decision for fear of further price increases, seeking to secure early the fuel that will cover their needs for the first few months. However, this purchase covers only part of the quantity required, which means they will need to place further orders during the winter.
Blankets and duvets
A low-income family of four, trying to keep its use of heating to a minimum, uses LPG heaters and an air conditioner. At night, the need to keep costs down leads them to use extra duvets and blankets so that the heaters do not have to run for hours. In this way, the family tries to keep its spending under control.
Home only at night
A pensioner we spoke to chooses to heat just one room of the house with an LPG heater, mainly in the evenings. During the day, he spends more time away from home, either at coffee shops or with his children, which reduces the hours he needs to heat his home.
Cutting back on outings
A couple living in the Limassol mountains, who travel into town every day for work and their children’s activities, are already facing a significant extra cost from the sharp rise in fuel prices. With travel costs unavoidable and heating costs added to the family budget during the winter months, the cuts are being made elsewhere. The family has cut back on eating out, visits to the beautician and, more generally, on purchases and services it does not consider essential, so that more money is left for its basic needs.
Lower demand at fuel stations
Fuel station owners are also seeing the strain on households. Speaking to Politis, they said that consumers are not yet buying heating oil and LPG, at least not in the quantities they used to in previous years. A fuel station owner in Limassol district said that in October last year, consumers had already started filling their tanks. This year, however, the picture is different. Demand remains noticeably lower, and those who do place orders are choosing significantly smaller quantities.
The manager of a fuel station in Nicosia district described a similar picture, saying that demand for both heating oil and LPG remains particularly low. According to her, orders increased somewhat after the reduction in excise duty on heating oil came into effect on 23 October. Even so, demand is still noticeably lower than in previous years.
This picture matches figures from the Statistical Service (Cystat), according to which heating oil sales in September 2026 fell by 6% compared with last year.
