A warm home is becoming a tougher budget calculation for Massachusetts homeowners, who are looking for less costly ways to heat it.
For one transportation engineer, the heating bills are less predictable.
Here's what to know
Massachusetts heating oil prices averaged $6.23 a gallon, a 75% increase from a year earlier, according to The Boston Globe. Filling a standard tank cost more than $1,500, more than $600 above last year's price.
North Andover homeowner Jon Strauss told The Globe he bought four space heaters and plans to turn down his thermostat after spending nearly $2,000 on heating oil the previous winter.
Budgeting for winter fuel has become harder for Strauss without the fixed price he usually arranges each fall. His supplier stopped offering those agreements because of market volatility, he said.
Rising costs are particularly concerning in New England, which has long winters and the country's greatest reliance on oil for home heating. Nationally, the Energy Information Administration projected that households primarily heating with oil would spend roughly $370 more than the previous winter.
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More background
Other heating options are becoming more expensive, too.
Stoneham social worker Mary Thomas told The Globe she paid nearly $760 for an oil delivery. Meanwhile, pellets for her wood stove had more than doubled, with a bag costing $12 at a nearby hardware retailer.
Roger Conner, who owns and operates RC Conner Enterprises in New Hampshire, told the Globe he raised the price of a kiln-dried cord from $495 to $595. The Globe reported that the minimum delivery fee rose from $25 to $95. Those higher prices come as firewood suppliers face rising expenses.
Conner said his price increases had not relieved the pressure that higher expenses were putting on his business. The diesel used to power processing equipment and delivery trucks cost about 64% more in New England than a year earlier, while propane prices rose about 12%, the Globe reported.
"It's stressful getting logs, and it's stressful paying the fuel bill," he said. "We're not making any more money."
What's being done?
Lower electricity charges for several months and temporarily expanded heating assistance for qualifying households are the aims of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey's "energy emergency" declaration. The state also offers Mass Save incentives for heat pumps and solar technology.
Despite higher pellet prices, Thomas intends to use her wood stove more. She also plans to improve insulation by hanging wall tapestries, installing door draft stoppers, and sealing windows.
ATH Firewood in Ashburnham added two full-time workers to split and stack wood after its stockpile ran out in September.
To return long-unused fireplaces and wood stoves to service, customers were requesting inspections, said Tom Heffernan, vice president of sales at Master Chimney Sweepers in Natick.
Falmouth marine engineer Kelson Thomas, a father of five, said he is deferring car repairs and considering another credit card as his electricity costs climb.
"It seems like everything is up," he said. "It wasn't always this hard."
Where can I learn more?
Higher heating-oil bills are straining winter budgets in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the Northeast.
• Massachusetts heating oil has reached a five-year high, adding pressure to New England winter budgets.
• Massachusetts households face $2,627 heating-oil winter bills as Governor Healey moves to ease costs.
• Northeast households brace for $2,300 heating oil bills as war in Iran jolts costs.
• A homeowner seeking to cut winter oil costs gets advice to heat the bed instead.
• Pennsylvania homeowners fear choosing between eating and heating as oil prices climb to $5.50.
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