Winter Heating Costs Spike: How Much More Will PA Residents Pay?

PENNSYLVANIA — Home heating costs in Pennsylvania 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 about $1,094 to heat their homes with natural gas this winter, an increase of 23 percent.

Looking at electricity costs, the Energy Department projects the average household in the Northeast region will pay about $1,679 to power their homes with electricity this winter, an increase of 11 percent.

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.

The price of natural gas spiked to record highs in Pennsylvania over the past year.

The state's Public Utility Commission said that most utilities adjusted their prices over the summer, as they do every year. But this year, given a unique set of circumstances, the rate hike was significantly higher, ranging between 6 percent and 45 percent, depending on the utility in question.

"Pennsylvania’s regulated electric utilities routinely adjust, either quarterly or biannually, the default service price they charge non-shopping customers for electric generation," the PUC explained in their announcement. "This price, also known as the “Price to Compare” (PTC), is what consumers use to compare prices and potential savings among competitive electric generation suppliers."

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. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Human Services helps low-income families pay heating bills with a cash grant.

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.