US heating oil prices forecast to rise about 50% this winter

Mixed · 2The National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) estimates that the cost of heating a home with oil will rise about 50% this winter. 1 2 Mixed · 2Grist puts the increase at $878 per household, or about $3.8 billion overall; Hindustan Times, citing Yahoo Finance, says it could add nearly $900 to the average household bill. 2 1 Mixed · 2Roughly 4.8 million US households use heating oil, according to Hindustan Times (Grist says more than four million), mostly in the Northeast, which Grist says holds about 82 percent of homes burning the fuel; Hindustan Times adds Alaska. 1 2

Mixed · 2Prices are near record highs: heating oil is around $6 a gallon across much of the Northeast, against the mid-$3 range in February according to Grist, and Hindustan Times cites averages of $5.96 in Maine, $5.87 in Vermont and $5.91 in Connecticut. 2 1 Centre · 1Diesel, which is almost identical to heating oil, has crossed $6.50 a gallon, a record, according to Hindustan Times. 1 Mixed · 2Both outlets blame the Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries; Grist adds that the stalemate has curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a tenth of the world's water-borne diesel once flowed. 1 2

Left · 1Grist says colder states face larger rises than the NEADA average, with Vermont and Maine facing a 76 percent jump, and that NEADA had projected a smaller increase just weeks earlier. 2 Left · 1NEADA executive director Mark Wolfe called the volatility "scary" and said "This is part of the cost of the war"; he warned of a possible public health crisis and said the administration has said nothing. 2 Centre · 1Chris Herb of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association described "a lot of sticker shock", said some households are buying earlier than usual, and said weatherization and tune-ups can cut a typical bill by up to 10%. 1

Left · 1Grist reports that some dealers are not offering pre-buy options given the uncertainty, and that El Niño could bring a relatively warm Northeast winter that would ease the burden. 2 Mixed · 2Pressure is building over the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): a bipartisan group of 31 senators asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to release funds well before the November 1 deadline, and HHS told Grist it will meet that deadline. 2 1 Left · 1A House bill would add $1 billion to LIHEAP, though Grist says no action is expected before the midterms, and Grist notes President Trump has repeatedly targeted the program for elimination and the administration briefly held back payments last spring. 2

Centre · 1Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have asked Trump to release part of the government's one-million-barrel emergency heating oil reserve. 1 Left · 1Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Monday, boosting assistance to 156,000 low-income households, expanding access to 50,000 middle-class families, activating price-gouging protections and urging Congress to add $3 billion to LIHEAP. 2