The oil price continues to soar, increasing the financial pressure on households, many of which are already struggling to make ends meet. With further fuel and energy rises on the cards, Paul Schofield, head of utilities looks at how you can minimise the impact of the record cost of oil.

Click here to read this article.

How are rising petrol and diesel prices affecting you? Are you thinking of changing to a more fuel-efficient car or are you having to cut back in other areas so you can afford fuel? And what about the record profits announced by BP and Shell recently - are they justified or should they be doing more to help the consumer? Click reply to have your say...

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Community

Help the consumer...That's the last thing BP and Shell want to do. Money in their pockets, they don't care. One easy solution...infact two....Move out of the UK and save yourself a bundle on tax....Or boycott the oil industry. Everyone should cease to use their cars for a week. Use a bus or walk...the oil companies will fill their underwear, and taxman will have much less...

save a bundle in tax ? where is this ? after 40 countries I haven't yet found it ; how they get your money varies , but they all get it one way or another

If you want to live in an industrialised country with a good standard of living, oil prices are going to affect you whether or not you own a car. Virtually every commodity, every service and every activity you purchase has an oil-based price component.

Tough, but there it is ... simple economics!

Its about time the government and oil suppliers realised that it is the consumer that sets the price of oil and commodities not the big oil companies. Once a good plan was put in place to 'go slow' on the motorway or picket oil refineries it was made illegal because of the problems it caused so the government put a stop to it. I think we should all just buy our petrol from every garage forecourt other than BP and Shell. I wonder how long they would last before they felt the lack of money in their pockets? I think after a few days they would, maybe a week they may but a few weeks they definitely would. This could create a price war which is what the consumer would benefit from.

Alternatively maybe the government who is not so popular right now would find a vote winner if they SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the VAT on petrol.

We all moan but do nothing. Lets do as Nookie says. Don't buy from Shell or BP pumps. Ever again if you wish. If everyone does this they will, as the earlier correspondent says fill their underwear. Also remember that the present Government, whom I helped vote in, are doing nothing to help the poorer elements of our population. Just remember that the next time you go to the polling station to vote.

This won't necessarily have the desired effect, afterall if we boycotted Shell, BP etc and maybe moved our purchases to the supermarket forecourts.....who do you think they buy their fuel from? The best way to make the oil companies notice is to REDUCE our consumption of fuel. Simply just shifting your purchases to other outlets does nothing. Besides, the margin on selling fuel at the forecourts is so small I doubt the likes of Shell or BP would reduce their prices in light of a boycott, they'd probably just shut the fuel stations, they make far more money elsewhere. If anything boycott the supermarkets, they have a lot more power with the Government.

Just to rub salt in. With the pound falling and oil in dollars we're double stuffed. Time to buy that moped

Thanks for your Jobless. This last few months has seen an increase in my mortgage, and household bills of £150.00. My employers are still arguing with a cost of living wage rise of pennies to help!! During this time BP announce Billions of pounds of profits. Whilst the MP's swan about on their expenses paid trips I'm preparing for a cold winter and going back to using an open fire to keep warm - There's no winter fuel allowance for a young middle class family of 4 children seems discriminatory to me, but what the hell that'll go on deaf ears as well.

If were not careful I could civil and /or world wars over fuel in the years to come unless the politicians can't sort this mess out and soon.

Maybe like me they should be on £12K a year and then bonus related pay to sort the mess out - that'll give em some motivation eh? !!