Publication:Statistical report

Retail Prices Index September 2026

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Tier 1 Statistics
Release date: 23 October 2026
Next release: 29 January 2027
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3.0%
Jersey Retail Prices Index
Annual inflation rate in the 12 months to September 2026

Main points

  • In the year to September 2026, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) increased by 3.0%, which was a 0.2 pp increase from June 2026 (2.8%)
  • This quarter, the rate of the Jersey RPI was 0.6 pp lower than the UK CPIH (3.6%), which is the broadly comparable headline rate of inflation for the UK
  • Several groups provided an upward contribution to the annual rate of inflation, most notably household services, alcoholic drinks and food
  • Heating oil and other fuels increased annually by 47.7%, and petrol and oil increased by 22.7%
  • The food group increased by 3.5%, contributing +0.37 percentage points (pp) to the overall rate of inflation
  • The housing group increased by 0.2%, contributing +0.05 pp to the overall rate of inflation

In respect of other inflation measures:

  • RPI(Y) increased by 3.5%
  • RPI(X) increased by 3.6%
  • RPI (Pensioners) increased by 4.3%
  • RPI (Low Income) increased by 3.6%

You can access our inflation calculator here.

Things you need to know

The RPI price collection process for this report started on 4 September and finished on 18 September 2026. During this period, global energy markets remained affected by geopolitical developments in the Middle East, contributing to movements in the prices of products such as heating oil and petrol. These impacts are reflected in this quarter’s figures.

Since the end of the collection period, further increases in fuel prices, particularly diesel, have been observed. As these changes occurred after price collection had been completed, they are not captured in the figures presented in this report.

Changes in inflation

The increase in the All Items Retail Prices Index (RPI) over the 12 months to September 2026 was 3.0%.

Several of the RPI groups contributed to the increasing of the overall rate, with the most significant upward contributors being:

  • Alcoholic drinks (+0.14 pp)
  • Housing (+0.14 pp)
  • Fares and other travel (+0.13 pp)

These were partially offset by downward contributions to the rate, with the most significant being:

  • Motoring (-0.14 pp)
  • Household services (-0.08 pp)
  • Leisure services (-0.07 pp)

As illustrated in the figure below, these all contributed to the annual inflation rate in the RPI for September 2026, of 3.0%, being up from 2.8% in June 2026.

Changes in prices

Most groups saw prices increase over the 12 months to September 2026. Notably, in the 12 months to September 2026, average prices in the:

  • fuel and light group increased by 8.8%, contributing +0.35 pp to the annual change of RPI
  • alcoholic drinks group increased by 8.0%, contributing +0.49 pp to the annual change of RPI

Notable movements in prices

Fuel and oil sections

The RPI price collection process for this report started on 4 September and finished on 18 September 2026. During this period, global energy markets continued to experience volatility associated with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. These conditions contributed to movements in the prices of products such as heating oil and petrol, which are reflected in this quarter’s figures.

The petrol and oil section, which falls within the motoring group, includes petrol, diesel, and motor oil. The heating oil and other fuels section is in the fuel and light group.

In September, heating oil and other fuels increased annually by 47.7%, and petrol and oil increased by 22.7%.

The RPI price collection for this report started on 4 September and finished on 18 September 2026. Changes in prices observed since this period will not have impacted this quarter’s RPI figures. Other local sources of price data, including Prices.je have recorded further price increases in these commodities after this period.

Housing

The costs associated with housing form the largest weight in the RPI basket of goods. In September 2026, on average, the housing group increased by 0.2% on an annual basis.

This group includes the costs of public and private sector rents, as well as the costs of mortgage interest payments. It also includes things such as parish rates and costs associated with maintaining and repairing a home.

In respect of mortgage interest payments, the Jersey RPI measures this using the Standard Variable rates published by mortgage lenders. It is therefore directly influenced by the Bank of England’s Bank Rate. See our Retail Prices Index methodology document for more details.

The figure below shows the housing group together with the overall RPI plotted against the base rate.

This group and the overall RPI are heavily influenced by changes in the base rate.

Within this group, over the last 12 months:

  • rents, increased by 2.1%
  • mortgage interest costs, decreased by 4.8%

The RPI(X), an alternative inflation measure that excludes mortgage interest payments, increased by 3.6% over the last 12 months, compared to 3.0% for the headline RPI measure.

Food group

Changes in food prices are often of particular interest to the public and play an important role in understanding cost-of-living pressures.

Over time, the food group has largely tracked the overall RPI. Recently, however, food prices have risen slightly faster than overall inflation. In the year to September 2026, the food group increased by 3.5%, which was:

  • 0.5 pp higher than the overall RPI increase of 3.0%
  • essentially the same as in June 2026 (3.5%)

Within the food group there were notable differences between sections, with the three largest annual increases being for:

  • eggs: 10.9%
  • lamb: 10.6%
  • fresh fish: 8.6%

The two sections with annual decreases in the food group were:

  • bacon: -1.6%
  • bread: -1.5%

The beef section had the largest five-yearly change, increasing by 62.2%, while fresh fruit saw the lowest five-yearly change, increasing by 4.3%.

Contribution of prices to inflation

The basket of goods and services for the All Item RPI is based upon the spending of households in Jersey. Spending of Jersey households is collected as part of the Living Costs and Household Income survey.

This provides average spends by Jersey Households, which are then used to weight the impact of price changes on an average households expenditure. The largest weighting in the current basket of goods is for housing, which consists of items such as rents and mortgage interest payments.

The changes in prices when weighted result in the overall RPI rate.

In the 12 months to September 2026, the largest contributions to the overall RPI rate of 3.0% were:

  • Household services, contributing +0.53 pp
  • Alcoholic drinks, contributing +0.49 pp
  • Food, contributing +0.37 pp

Other inflation measures

As well as the headline RPI index, Jersey produces a number of additional inflation measures:

The figure below shows the annual change for these indices:

Data sources and methods

Full details of the methodology used in this report are described in the Jersey Retail Prices Index Methodology report.

Comprehensive information on household spending (from the Living costs and household income survey) is combined with prices of around 2,500 goods and services, which are collected every three months from 300 retailers, including online.

The prices are matched to the prices collected in the previous quarter, and the individual price changes are combined together to give a single overall increase. The contribution of each price change to the overall increase depends on how much the average household spends on each item.

Data tables and supplementary information associated with this release can be found on our open data site: Retail Prices Indices – Datasets – Open Data.