The US Northeast Is Hurtling Toward a Winter Heating Crisis

[kelly1mm]

Source: Bloomberg / Yahho News

(Bloomberg) -- In the most densely populated corner of the US, temperatures are about to drop after a stretch of unusually warm weather. And the signs of a winter crisis are already multiplying.

Heating oil delivered to New York is the priciest ever. Retailers in Connecticut are rationing it to prevent panic buying. New England's stockpiles of diesel and heating oil -- the same product, taxed differently -- are a third of normal levels. Natural gas inventories are also below average. A Massachusetts-based utility is imploring President Joe Biden to prepare emergency measures to prevent a gas shortage.

Add some cold to the mix, and in the best-case scenario, Northeast consumers will shoulder the highest energy bills in decades this winter. The Biden administration, under pressure to tame prices ahead of the midterm elections, is considering ways to stash more diesel and gasoline in New England. In the worst-case scenario, a cluster of states with a combined economy bigger than Japan's will run out of fuel to keep the lights on and heat homes and businesses.

"It's going to be pretty bad," said Marcus McGregor, head of commodities research at Conning Inc. "Diesel, heating oil and natural gas prices are through the roof. When you're on a fixed salary, how does it impact your overall budget? It has to be bad."

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/us-northeast-hurtling-toward-winter-130007857.html

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Our old house was a 1920's American Foursquare 3br 2ba about 2000sf double brick but no real insulation to speak of in Maryland. When we bought it in the late 1990's it was heated with heating oil fed from 2 275 gallon storage tanks in the basement. In the early 2000's we were going through 900-1100 gallons a year. Once heating oil got to $1.89 (so about $2000 a year for heat only) and the furnace needed repair we switched over to a heat pump - saved a ton and got AC as a bonus!

Just checked and heating oil is $5.99 a gallon near me. That would be $6000 or so just for heat in our old house setup!

We have since moved and did a gut rehab of a small house and super insulated it with passive solar (lots of windows south facing) and a wood stove with a central chimney in the basement that we harvest firewood from our 4 acre woodlot. We have a decorative propane fireplace (but it does put out a ton of heat when running) and propane cookstove and use about 150 gallons of propane a year at about $2.50 per gallon so about $375 per year.

I don't know how people will be able to afford heat this winter - I guess there is one benefit at least to global warming! (j/k!)

[PortTack]

1. We've done everything we can to our 1911 prairie style brick house. And we don't do too bad

But, we keep the thermostat down and use small space heaters in the areas we occupy. It really helps keep the total cost down.

[kelly1mm]

2. Just be careful with those space heaters! Last winter a local burned himself

to death using one of those propane 'shop' heaters - the ones that kind of look like a jet engine that you see at construction sites a lot. He was on older gentleman and he walked in front of it and it caught his pants on fire and he was not able to put himself out and had burns over 80% of his body.

[IronLionZion]

6. Yup, those things are dangerous

I burned a blanket that got too close to one back in 2005.

Electric blankets can be better. Wool socks, long underwear, sweaters, etc.

[PortTack]

7. Yeah..no we don't use anything like that. Small safe electric ones with various safety features

But..thx for the warning and concern!

[Alexander Of Assyria]

3. Bloomberg fearmongering in a nation that continues to export massive amounts of fuel.

In a nation with fuel companies making record profits. In a nation richer in everything than most any other.

Running out of fuel for heating?? Lol…Ukrainians must be weeping at the hand wringing.

[kelly1mm]

4. Even if the NE does not run out of heating oil it is still $6 a gallon! Many homes can use

1000 gallons a winter for heat. Most of these are older homes often where people on fixed incomes and those of limited means. That is an expense many can't afford. When you can't afford 'regular' heat that is when you have people using BBQ's in the house and dying of smoke inhalation/fire.

[Hortensis]

5. We'll deal with it.

High prices are unfortunate, Especially when so outrageously unnecessary, but price swings are part of life.

I don’t feel sorry for those whose votes made the Republican pandemic and all its ongoing sequelae, including this, happen. If only they were honest enough to recognize consequences of their own behaviors come home, even a little bit.

Hopefully more of those informed enough to know who has brought the string of disasters down on us will become fed up with them this winter.

[paleotn]

8. The problem isn't new and revolves around infrastructure, or lack of it.

due to NIMBY and other assorted foolishness. The massive switch from coal / oil to nat. gas for electrical generation and oil to nat. gas for home heating requires upgrades in energy infrastructure that some in this region, and just outside our region, have been unwilling to make. With limited pipeline capacity, New England's nat. gas supplies are topped off thru a single regasification terminal in Boston harbor. Due to such stupidity, an entire region of the US is at the mercy of LNG spot pricing. What could possibly go wrong?! Idiots!!!

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/natural-gas-bottleneck-hurting-new-england/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2022/02/01/why-is-new-england-paying-the-equivalent-of-180-oil-for-natural-gas/

[kewhawaii]

9. I have lived in Hawaii most of my life..

...and I have not paid a penny for heating. People say it is expensive here, but we find ways to save.

[tirebiter]

10. Somebody has thought this out

Biden administration to send $385 million to states to offset high home energy costs

Source: CNN

The Biden administration on Thursday will announce it is sending more than $385 million to states to help offset high home energy costs, including cooling costs this summer, a White House official tells CNN.

The funding will be distributed through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps families afford heating and cooling. The announcement comes as Americans face high utility bills as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sends energy prices soaring and amid persistent global supply chain problems.

The President is traveling on Thursday to the Pacific Northwest, which saw record heat last year, and will highlight the work his administration is doing to try to offset home energy costs and overall lower prices for families.

The $385 million is in addition to $4.5 billion that the American Rescue Plan provided to LIHEAP and the $500 million allocated by the bipartisan infrastructure law to the same program.



Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-administration-to-send-385-million-to-states-to-offset-high-home-energy-costs/ar-AAWsb8z

[The Jungle 1]

11. Remember republicans voted against the price gouging bill.

This is their fault.

[Woodwizard]

12. Heat pumps are the way.

I installed some mini split heat pumps last year myself, saved a ton of money. Half the cost of of oil per btu at our 22 cents a KWH and we have solar which covers most of the use.

Very impressed with the performance at -11f last year they were putting out heat just fine. The last few years they have gotten very efficient.

If I was heating with propane or oil I would have burned almost what the units cost in fuel. This year they will have definitely paid for themselves.

[tapper]

13. On 2nd heat pump

We built our cohousing community with all heat pumps back in the naughts, and I replaced mine with a next-generation heat-pump earlier this year. The specifications were interesting -- had the choice of getting a heat pump that topped out efficiency for summer, or one that was most efficient in winter. Given that heat pumps have more problems dealing with cold temps than hot ones, I went for the efficient winter version. (At least with the old pump, the system basically went to electric heating when the outdoor temp got below 20 (Fahrenheit).

I'm keeping my thermostat at 68, and will probably take it down to 64 when it really starts getting cold. (With a small oil-heated electric heater in the bathroom.)

One thing I've discovered is that those 'blanket hoodies' are really nice for living in a chilly home. I have one of the large sized ones that comes below my calves. With the 'sherpa' style inner blanket, along with several layers, I can stay pretty comfy.

[Woodwizard]

14. For 30 years we have been heating with wood.

Sometimes in the really cold parts of winter the house would be in the low 50's in the morning if the fire was burned down. Every morning last year I woke up comfortable for the first time. We still have the wood stove but it gets used a lot less.

We used in a years time just under 2000 KWH of electricity with the pumps about $440in electric, that is over the summer AC included. Without the wood stove at all I think it may be double the usage at the most. That cost is offset by our solar and I am adding another 3KW of panels to cover the electric use completely.

[róisín_dubh]

15. I was wondering when the media would...

get around to this kind of reporting and warning people of the winter ahead.
Europeans have been prepared for months.