NORTHAMPTON — As the chilling months of winter loom, Sandra Milo says she’s holding her breath worrying about how she’ll pay her heating bill.
The Northampton woman has been doing what she can to be more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient in her more than 100-year-old house by hanging her clothes outside to dry, shutting off lights and heat in rooms she’s not in, and keeping her thermostat at 60 degrees — but no matter what she does, she’ll still be paying more to heat her home with gas this winter than she did last year.
“I’m scared to death,” Milo said. “What else can I do here?”
Milo isn’t the only one bracing to fork over more money this winter to stay warm than they did a year ago.
Prices for electric, gas and oil heat are all expected to jump to some of the highest levels in a decade, with many homeowners paying more than 60% more this winter than last, regardless of how they heat their homes. The increase is being fueled by global demand, the war in Ukraine, constraints on domestic supply, extreme weather and other factors.
The coming price increases have leaders at Greenfield-based Community Action Pioneer Valley, which provides fuel assistance money for residents in Hampshire and Franklin counties, and other organizations, including Valley Opportunity Council, which covers Hampden County, worried about helping those who need it most.
“There are no answers to what we can do if it’s not enough,” said Peter Wingate, energy director at Community Action, referring to the agency’s $6 million fuel assistance budget. “The state Legislature has been spoken to in order to help. Half the time the state has kicked in more. We only do the ask when it’s really needed, and this year, it is certainly needed to get the state funds to fill in that gap.”
National Grid, the state’s largest utility along with Eversource, says that the monthly bill of a typical residential electric customer will rise from $179 last winter to $293 this winter, for the six months that begin on Nov. 1 — a 64% increase from the same time a year ago. That figure is based on basic service for customers who use 600 kilowatt-hours of power, according to the utilities rate filing with the Department of Public Utilities.
National Grid’s new natural gas heating rates for typical residential customers are expected to rise by 22-24% from last winter’s bills, or an additional $50 a month.
Eversource said its basic service electric rate will stay the same until Jan. 1, but the utility expects prices to jump after that date and is encouraging customers to take action now, said spokesperson Priscilla Ress.
“We will know what the lowest cost we can get for our customers is and present that proposed rate to the Department of Public Utilities for final approval usually by the end of next month (October),” Ress said.
Eversource gas customers in the Valley could face a 25% increase, or $61 a month, starting next month, according to DPU filings.
These figures will bring sticker shock to some in the coming weeks, but to others they are already here. Susan Parker of Northampton said her electricity bill has already tripled before the arrival of the colder months. She’s retired and spends more time at home, and called this increase “really concerning,” especially when combined with a jump in property taxes and food costs.
“My house is over 100 years old. It’s insulated, I have triple-paned windows and I keep the temperature down. Even wearing a turtleneck, sweatshirt and a blanket sitting in one room, it’s still cold,” Parker said. “Things aren’t looking promising.”
While the price rises are unwelcome in any home, National Grid and Eversource say they do not have much choice because they buy electricity from suppliers and pass the cost directly to their customers.
Ress noted the rates, which change every six months, reflect the actual cost the utility pays for electricity from suppliers, with no profit to the company.
“We’re encouraging customers to take steps now to plan for the upcoming winter and are ready to help customers who may need assistance,” she said.
Homeowners who use propane heat — 97,561, about 3.7% of Bay State homes — are paying an average of $3.77 per gallon, up 10.5% over the $3.41 per gallon average seen last September, according to the State House News Service.
Kate Craven is the director of marketing and communications at Holyoke Gas and Electric, a municipal utility owned by the city. Any profits made go back to the company, which generates power from a number of sources, including hydroelectric and solar.
As a result, the price increase will be limited to 7.5-10% for electric customers, though natural gas users can expect a 39% jump. Craven added that the utility offers payment plans and budgets for those customers going through challenging times. Craven said Holyoke Gas and Electric purchases power from different sources when price jumps occur, and suggested that residents conserve energy when possible and winterize their homes.
“If our customers are trying, we will do everything we can to help them,” she said.
Oil prices are also on the rise. Joe Diamond, executive director for Massachusetts Association for Community Action, told the State House News Service that home heating oil prices are up 66% over the same time last year and are more than double the price from two years ago.
Before the prices start to really skyrocket, a number of customers who may have typically waited until their oil tanks were closer to empty are topping them off now, according to Bob Kieras of Kieras Oil Inc. in Amherst.
“This October has been one of the busiest we’ve ever seen,” Kieras said.
To help brace for the higher costs, the company has been encouraging its customers to sign up for its budget plan to spread the costs out over an entire year. They’ve also advised many to look into fuel assistance. On average, the company typically has about 300 customers on fuel assistance throughout the year.
“With the prices increasing so much, we know it’s going to be harder for our customers to pay us, which means it will be more challenging for us to pay our bills as well,” Kieras said. “I think it’s going to be a new experience for everyone with the prices being so high.”
Community Action provides fuel assistance for about 8,000 households a year across Hampshire and Franklin counties. Wingate, its energy director, said the program has an annual budget of $6 million through the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
Fuel assistance is designed to help pay about 30% of winter heating, and this varies widely year to year. Wingate said a one-time payment is given to families through Community Action Pioneer Valley ranging from $900 to $1,600, based on household size. This benefit level per household is set by the DHCD. Last winter there was additional funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, and Wingate said this made a tremendous difference.
“Last year that made the benefit levels much higher — close to $2,400,” he said. “It’s not going to be quite that much. Ideally, we should have made plans for heating our homes in the winter and done this in the summer.”
Politicians in recent weeks have called for more fuel assistance funding at both the state and federal levels. According to the State House News Service, Massachusetts is in line to receive nearly $37 million more in heating aid for families in need under a new federal spending bill.
All nine U.S. House members and two U.S. senators from the Bay State wrote to the Division of Energy Assistance, calling for the federal government to “expedite” its release of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, grants.
The delegation, led by U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, wants those dollars to start flowing a few weeks earlier than usual to help families bulwark against the enormous financial strain projected to hit when temperatures drop.
“Massachusetts families are scrambling right now to figure out how they’re going to afford their heating and utility bills this winter,” Trahan said. “Many families simply can’t afford a $40 or $50 increase each month, let alone over a hundred bucks.”
Members of Congress from New England are also asking President Joe Biden, in an Oct. 19 letter, to release stockpiles from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.
The reserve stores 1 million barrels of ultra-low-sulfur diesel for heating oil, they said, and by law the president is authorized to release oil from the reserve in the event of a “severe energy supply disruption” or a “regional supply shortage of significant scope and duration and that action taken under this section would assist directly and significantly in reducing the adverse impact of such shortage.”
“Unfortunately, Putin and the COVID pandemic have inflicted a severe energy supply disruption, and with winter approaching it is critical that you quickly release oil from these reserves to help families stay warm this winter,” the members of Congress wrote.
“Families should not be forced to make hard choices about keeping loved ones warm and healthy and putting food on the table. We stand ready to work with you and your administration to take the steps necessary to shore up New England’s supply of heating oil so that families throughout our states are not faced with this impossible choice,” they wrote.
