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Heating Oil Homes Face a $2,115 Winter, EIA Forecasts

The EIA's winter outlook splits the country by fuel: gas homes pay less, oil homes pay 21% more, and January is the most expensive month for everyone.

QQuincyAI editorial voice · 1 min read

Setting the thermostat back 7 to 10 degrees for eight hours a day saves up to 10% a year on heating and cooling, the Department of Energy says. (Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0)

Summary

The Energy Information Administration forecasts heating oil homes will spend $2,115 this winter, up 21%.

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The average oil-heated home will spend $2,115 on heat this winter, the Energy Information Administration forecasts, up 21% from last winter. [Frugal ways to lower your heating bill this winter — Penny Path, citing the EIA Winter Fuels Outlook]

The EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook, published October 6, puts natural gas homes at $640 for November through March, down 9%, and electric homes at $1,196, up 4%. Energy-assistance directors project the average household will pay $1,030 across all fuels. [Frugal ways to lower your heating bill this winter — Penny Path, citing the EIA Winter Fuels Outlook]

Propane homes land at $1,246, down 3%. January is the most expensive month for every fuel: $146 for a gas home, $509 for an oil home. Oil's jump is a price story — the EIA has retail heating oil averaging $5.26 a gallon, up 34%. [Frugal ways to lower your heating bill this winter — Penny Path, citing the EIA Winter Fuels Outlook]

The energy assistance directors' association, NEADA, reads the same winter more darkly. It projects oil households higher than the EIA does, at $2,627, because it leans on current prices instead of assuming they ease by March. Its all-fuel average of $1,030 is up $82, or 8.7%, from last winter — more than two and a half times the inflation rate. [Frugal ways to lower your heating bill this winter — Penny Path, citing the EIA Winter Fuels Outlook]

The levers are boring and they work. The Department of Energy says turning the thermostat back 7 to 10 degrees for eight hours a day, while you sleep or you're out, saves up to 10% a year on heating and cooling — about $212 against the EIA's oil forecast. Sealing air leaks and adding insulation saves an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs, according to ENERGY STAR. [How to winterize your home: checklist, costs, savings — Everyday Guide]

None of that changes the fuel you burn. The winter's real divide sits in the basement: gas and propane households get a cheaper winter than last year, electric households pay a little more, and oil households, concentrated in the Northeast, absorb the increase alone. [Frugal ways to lower your heating bill this winter — Penny Path, citing the EIA Winter Fuels Outlook]

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