If you are dependent on natural gas or heating oil to keep your home warm this winter expect your heating bills to be much higher than last year.

Heating oil prices futures are hovering around $3.28, add the $1.00 or so markup for retailers, and you have heating prices that are nearly double the price they were 2 years ago. Natural gas prices are not as high but they have also risen dramatically.

While we complain about gasoline prices, much of our driving is discretionary as shown by consumers driving less when gas hit $4.00 a gallon. But home heating, especially in the northern climates is a necessity. Lowering the thermostat helps but keeping the home livable will still be expensive.

My word of advice is this; if your budget is tight, make sure that you have your furnace checked early this year. If you have an older furnace or heating unit, this is the time to look for a more efficient replacement. When energy was cheap, inefficient units did not hurt the budget too much. With the higher energy prices, the effective cost of replacement now makes a great deal more sense.

The average heating oil bill in states like Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, in a region where eight million households use heating oil to fire their furnaces, is set to jump by as much as $1,500 this winter compared with last year, according to estimates derived from the government’s latest forecasts for energy prices.

Amid a slowing economy, high energy costs are weighing heavily on pocketbooks, and have become a major political issue. Airlines and automakers have posted billions of dollars in losses, consumers have cut some of their spending to compensate for costlier gasoline, and soaring energy prices have contributed to inflation across the economy.  via the  NYTimes.com.

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5. The Passive Home – No Heater Required