Home heating oil costs soaring to near-record highs

Home heating oil prices continue to soar

Gas prices may be on the decline, but that's not stopping home heating oil from continuing to rise to near-record highs, with heating oil expected to be 45% more expensive this winter, impacting roughly 5 million households, mostly in the northeast.

NEW YORK - While prices at the pump continue to fall, home heating oil has been trending in the opposite direction.

The current national average for heating oil prices is just over $5 a gallon, more than twice what it was in the winter of 2015/2016, when a gallon of heating oil was just $2.06.

"I got my first heating bill, and it was up probably 30%," one man told FOX 5 NY.

Experts say the spike in costs has to do with colder-than-expected winter weather, refinery closures, and a global oil supply crunch.

"With an impending European Union ban on the purchase of Russian sourced diesel, we’ll see a scramble for alternative supply which on a worldwide basis will continue to have a tight market for diesel fuel," said home heating expert Andy Lipow, President of Lipow Oil Associates.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects heating a home with natural gas will cost an extra 25% this winter, and heating with electricity will run 11% higher. However, the steepest hike will be on heating oil, which is expected to be 45% more expensive - impacting roughly 5 million households, mostly in the Northeast.

Bills are expected to be higher than in year’s past and experts believe it will stay that way for the next 6-12 months. But the good news they say is that it looks like heating oil prices have peaked.