Home Heating Costs Surge, Here's What CT Residents Can Expect To Pay This Winter

CONNECTICUT — Home heating costs in Connecticut are expected to rise sharply this winter, especially for households that use natural gas and heating oil, the Energy Department said Wednesday.

The bleak report sparked worry by some that local home heating assistance programs may not be able to make up the difference for struggling families.

The agency projects natural gas bills across the nation will jump by 28 percent over last winter, heating oil bills will go up 27 percent, electricity will be 10 percent higher, and propane will cost 5 percent more.

The Energy Department projects the average household in the Northeast region will pay nearly $1,100 to heat their homes with natural gas this winter, an increase of 23 percent compared with last year’s heating season.

EIA estimates that the average U.S. heating oil household will spend $2,354 from October to March to keep the home warm, which is a 27 percent increase from last winter. Oil is only used by 4 percent of households nationwide, but by about 18 percent in the Northeast.

Home heating oil prices spiked to an average of $5.44 a gallon on Oct. 10, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The price was about $4.49 a gallon a week earlier.

The average electric-heated household in the Northeast will spend nearly $1,700 this winter season on total electricity costs, which is an increase of 11 percent. Homes that use electricity as a primary heating source use significantly more electricity during the winter than households that use an alternative heating source.

The average propane-fueled household in the Northeast will spend nearly $2,000 for warmth, which is an 8 percent increase from last season.

See also: Woman Struck, Killed While Changing Flat Tire On Interstate: Police

• National Guard Member Killed In Crash, Mourned: Report
• New DMV Website Unveiled In CT, And More Online Service Options

The surge in home heating costs comes on top of stubborn inflation that is raising the price of almost everything. Inflation rates accelerated last month with consumer prices, excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, growing 6.6 percent, the fastest such pace in four decades. Overall, the September Consumer Price Index was up 8.2 percent from the year prior.

People who need help paying their heating bills should check to see if they’re eligible for assistance under the federally funded Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The Connecticut Energy Assistance Program offers qualifying households between $250 and $600 toward heating bills. Legislative Republicans in Connecticut have called for a special session to add funds to the state program.

Congress added $1 billion to the LIHEAP fund, strained during the third-hottest summer on record, bringing it to $4.8 billion. But the amount of assistance available falls short of last year, when pandemic relief packages took the fund to $8 billion.

Advocacy groups across the country are pressuring utilities to implement a moratorium on winter shut-offs.

The projected spike in winter’s heating bills — the highest in more than a decade, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association — are the result of converging factors.

Global energy consumption has rebounded from the early days of the pandemic, and supply was barely keeping pace before the war in Ukraine further reduced supplies. The situation is even bleaker in Europe, where Russia’s continued curtailment of natural gas is pushing prices upward and causing painful shortages.

Anxiety is growing among consumers across the country. The pain will be especially acute in New England, which is heavily reliant on heating oil to keep homes warm. It’s projected to cost more than $2,300 to heat a typical home with heating oil this winter, the Energy Department said.

“People are scared. They’re worried. They’re frustrated,” Lisa McGee, who coordinates the heating aid program in Lewiston, Maine, told the Associated Press. “There’s more anxiety this year.”

Mark Wolfe, the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, said a “crisis is coming.”

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and factors in play that could drive prices higher,” he told the AP.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.