This winter will be colder than normal across the country, experts warn, but heating their homes can cost too much for many families due to rising energy prices.
Matt Rogers, co-founder of Commodity Weather Group, told the Axios news portal that a colder-than-average winter is forecast in the United States and Europe compared to 2021.
Along these lines, he forecasts an increase in energy demand in the United States of 0.5% for this winter.
This means that people will burn more fuel to heat themselves and therefore
their heating bills will be higher than expected.
With prices for heating oil, natural gas and other fuels soaring around the world, the government said Wednesday that it expects
the home heating bill to skyrocket by as much as 54% compared to last winter. .
The country's annual inflation rises to 5.4% in the month of September
Oct. 14, 202100: 17
Nearly half of the nation's homes use natural gas for heating and could pay an average of
$ 746 this winter, 30% more than a year ago.
Midwesterners could be hit especially hard as bills are projected to increase 49%.
It would thus be the most expensive winter for homes with natural gas heating since 2008.
[The rise in the price of gasoline will make "all corners of the economy more expensive," experts warn]
The second most used source of heating in homes is electricity,
which represents 41% of the total;
these families could experience a 6% increase, to $ 1,268.
Households that use heating oil, which account for 4% of the total, could experience an increase of 43%, more than $ 500, to reach $ 1,734.
Although the steepest increases would correspond to homes that use propane, which represent 5% of the total.
“After the beating people have taken in the pandemic, it's like, '
What's next?
”Carol Hardison, executive director of the Crisis Assistance Ministry, which helps people in Charlotte, North Carolina, who are facing financial difficulties, told The Associated Press.
The prices of food and gasoline continue to rise.
What causes this rise?
April 14, 202101: 42
According to Hardison, there are households with bills that are roughly double what they were before the pandemic.
Households facing more expensive housing, higher medical bills, and sometimes reduced working hours.
"This is what we know about this pandemic: it has hit the same people who were already struggling with salaries that did not match the cost of living," he emphasized.
To make ends meet, families make big cuts.
Almost
22% of citizens had to reduce or renounce basic necessities
, such as medicine or food,
to pay the electricity bill
in at least one of the last 12 months, according to a survey conducted in September by the Office of the Census.
"This is going to create significant hardship for people in the bottom third of the country," Mark Wolfe, director of the National Association of Energy Assistance Directors, told the quoted outlet.
“They can be told to cut back and try to turn down the heat at night, but many low-income families already do.
Energy was already unaffordable for them ”
, he added.
In addition, many of those families have just gotten over a hot summer in which they faced high air conditioning bills.
On video: Fights and long lines in the UK over fuel shortages
Sept.
27, 202100: 30
Increase in energy prices
The biggest reason for the rise in heating bills this winter is rising prices for energy products after they fell to multi-year lows in 2020.
This is partly because
demand has grown faster than production
as the economy has come back to life after quarantines and disruptions caused by the coronavirus.
Natural gas in the United States, for example, has risen to its highest price since 2014 and has risen about 90% in the last year.
The wholesale price of heating oil, meanwhile, has more than doubled in the last 12 months.
[Food and clothing prices rise due to product shortages]
Another reason for the rise is how global the fuel market has become.
In Europe, strong demand and tight supply have pushed natural gas prices up by more than 350% this year.
That is causing some of the natural gas produced in the United States to go to ships bound for other countries, adding upward pressure to domestic prices as well.
What has caused freight stagnation in US ports?
Oct. 14, 202102: 05
To keep your bill from skyrocketing, Barton James, president of Air Conditioning Contractors of America, a trade group, recommends
making sure your home's heating system is working properly,
The Wall Street Journal reported.
Other experts also recommend that you
examine your monthly budget
and apply for federal aid programs.
