Heating oil costs picked to soar 37%

WASHINGTON —Homeowners who heat their houses with heating oil will see their bills jump more than 37 percent this winter from a year ago, the government said this week in a report that also projected increased costs for all other heating sources.

The average heating oil tab will total $1,309 for the October-to-March period, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its monthly report. Previously, the EIA estimated heating oil bills would total $1,223, a 28 percent jump from a year ago. Since the October report, oil prices rose higher than expected, leading to the increased estimate.

About 8 percent of U.S. homes are heated with heating oil; most of those houses are in the Northeast.

Heating oil users are facing the biggest jump in winter heating bills because of low supplies, expected elevated demand and the high cost of crude oil, which is used to make heating oil.

After seeing her heating oil bills soar last year for her Silver Spring, Md., home, Soo Han, 34, looked into converting to natural gas or another source. But that was too expensive. Now she’s trying to conserve. So far, she has only turned on her heat upstairs, waiting as long as possible to turn on the heat downstairs, where her kitchen, dining room and living room are.

“I’ll probably just cook, then go on upstairs,” Han, a government worker, says.

Users of other heating sources are also expected to write bigger checks to keep their homes warm this winter. Consumers with natural gas, which is used to heat more than half of U.S. homes, are expected to pay 15 percent more this winter; electricity users are expected to see a 5 percent rise; and propane users are expected to pay 26 percent more. A warmer-than-expected winter seems to be the only chance to escape higher bills.