Tornadoes touch down in Marion, Plainview

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

You will likely pay more to heat your home this winter than you did last winter, the federal government says.

 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration finds higher fuel prices and a colder weather forecast than last year will add up to an increase in heating costs.


NPR's Jeff Brady reports natural gas prices have a particularly big effect because nearly half of American households rely on it for heat:

 natural gas is the most common space heating fuel in every region except the South, where electric heating is more prevalent, and that heating oil is much more common in the Northeast than in other regions.
The 

 warm weather last winter resulted in the lowest national heating demand in at least 25 years. The winter fuels outlook included the following predictions for weather this winter across the U.S.:



However, to give you an idea of just how warm last winter was, the report notes that this winter is still expected to be about 3 percent warmer than the average of the five winters preceding last winter.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Business and Economic News

Rebecca Hersher

Author

The federal government says higher fuel prices and colder weather will add up to a steeper bill than last year for consumers heating their homes this winter.

Brace yourself, Minnesota: Winter heating costs will likely increase

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox