Rural good life costs £3,000 a year more than urban living
Households in rural areas are spending almost £3,000 a year more on essentials compared to people living in towns and cities, a new study has revealed.
The cost of goods and services has been rising in rural parts of the country at twice the average national rate, research showed.
According to heating oil firm BoilerJuice, petrol and liquid fuels are among the goods which have increased the most in 2017 for country dwellers, followed by pet food, vehicle repairs and electricity.
The study also found that rural households spend an extra £80 a year on landline telephone bills, which it said probably reflects rural Britain's poor mobile phone coverage.
Peter Lewis, who lives in rural Mid Wales, said the essentials are more expensive for most people in the countryside as very little is on the doorstep.
He said: "I know phone bills around here are higher because coverage on our mobiles is so intermittent so people have to use their landlines more.
"A lot of our houses aren't connected to the mains gas like they are in the towns either so we have to get oil which is obviously dearer and has to be delivered which also costs.
"Everything adds up. I have to travel further to get my food shopping too. It's all the little things you don't really think of but it makes sense."
Managing director of BoilerJuice, Lee Cowles, said 2017 was a particularly difficult year for people living in the countryside and believes more should be done to help struggling families.
"This year has been tough for country households, seeing severe inflation rates for petrol and liquid fuels," he added.
"It is so severe that inflation is now hitting rural households up to 73 per cent harder than urban ones because of their reliance on essentials such as petrol, electricity, heating oil and groceries.
"The British countryside is a great place to live but for too many people country life is challenging, particularly for those on lower incomes.
"We know that in the past year 43 per cent of rural households struggled to afford their heating oil and more should be done to shield the poorest families from the worst effects of rising prices."
