If you heat your home with heating oil, propane, or natural gas, your winter fuel bills will rise this winter, according to federal forecasters at the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electricity prices, meanwhile, will hold steady.

EIA is predicting:

  • 10% higher heating oil prices (than last winter)
  • 7% higher propane prices
  • 4% higher residential natural gas prices
  • 1% higher electricity prices

While the forecasters’ projected average expenditures for heating oil users are at their highest level ever, where you live influences your winter heating costs.

If the slightly warmer winter weather forecast for the Northeast, South, and Midwest comes to pass, that would help keep fuel bills lower in those regions. The West is forecast to be slightly colder than it was last year.

Fortunately, if the winter is colder than expected, above-average inventories of fuel oil and natural gas should mitigate any price increases brought on by increased demand for heating fuels, EIA officials said.

Propane stocks are at relatively low levels, but should be adequate to meet potential demand increases or supply disruptions, they added.

Source: EIA