Winter is Coming! And With It High Heating Bills

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Energy Information Administration projects that Americans will pay more for heat this winter, regardless of their fuel source.
• The forecast comes as energy prices in the U.S. are already up and families are struggling to cope with persistent inflation. Europe has warned of a dire energy crisis.
• President Biden and Democrats in Congress have peddled excuses instead of taking responsibility for their failed energy policies. The left should quit its war on American energy and support increased production to help lower costs for families.

As temperatures begin dropping across the United States, the forecast is for families to pay more to heat their homes this winter. After nearly two years in control, President Biden and congressional Democrats are still pushing their failed energy policies that set off prices and contributed to record inflation. Families need relief, but the left is recycling old excuses and would rather look to foreign dictators to bail them out. The solution to lower prices is simple: end Democrats’ war on American energy and increase domestic production.

Energy Prices Forecast to Snowball

chilling forecast for Energy Prices

The Energy Information Administration recently released its Winter Fuels Outlook, in which it projects American households will pay more this winter to heat their homes than they did last year. In its “base case” scenario, EIA says prices will increase for all four of the main energy types used to heat American homes: 25% more for natural gas; 45% more for heating oil; 11% more for electricity; and 1% more for propane.

If temperatures are cooler than predicted, prices are expected to climb even higher. Nearly half of all U.S. homes use natural gas as their primary energy source; their bills could rise 37% from last winter. Increased natural gas prices would hit the Midwest especially hard, where nearly two-thirds of households use the fuel as their primary heating source. Limited natural gas supplies could also send prices soaring in the northeast, where a deficiency of pipeline infrastructure has left people in the region vulnerable to shortages. While just 4% of homes use heating oil as their main fuel source, those families could see their bills jump 52% compared to last year under cooler temps. 

The predicted increase in heating bills comes as Americans are already facing high energy prices. According to the Department of Labor, in October the energy index was up nearly 18% from a year earlier. As of August, an estimated 20 million U.S. households were behind on their utility bills. Warmer temperatures in Europe have held demand in check and kept prices from spiking, but global supplies are expected to remain tight this winter as countries adjust from their previous overreliance on cheap, dirty Russian energy.

Democrats are disconnected from reality

President Biden and his allies seem to be unaware or unconcerned with the challenges facing American families. Democrats spent the summer jamming through their reckless tax and spend spree, which the White House called the “most aggressive action on tackling the climate crisis in American history.” The so-called Inflation Reduction Act does nothing to address high energy prices or inflation but does raise taxes and costs for American energy producers. It also includes a natural gas tax, which will send energy prices even higher at the worst possible time. Senate Democrats blocked several provisions offered by Republicans that would have lowered prices through increased domestic energy production.

President Biden and his administration have pursued a slew of actions and regulations that have driven energy inflation and threaten to send prices even higher. In the earliest days of his presidency, he acted unilaterally to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and to ban new oil and gas leases. His Department of the Interior halted oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and increased royalty rates for onshore oil and gas leasing by 50%. The Environmental Protection Agency is pursuing draconian methane regulations that will further increase natural gas prices, with President Biden unveiling EPA’s latest expanded “supplemental” proposal last week at the United Nations COP27 climate conference. The administration is also said to be considering using its required five-year plan to block new offshore oil and gas leasing. More recently, in a desperate attempt to change the political narrative ahead of the midterms, President Biden called for increasing taxes on oil producers to “lower prices.” Some members of his own party quickly rejected the idea. Making it more expensive to produce oil will simply translate to even higher prices for consumers.

For more than a year, Democrats have peddled excuse after excuse to deflect blame from their radical Green New Deal agenda. In another attempt to divert attention from rising gasoline prices, the left recycled their favorite talking points blaming energy producers for high prices. In response to the recent OPEC+ decision to cut oil production, liberals promised retribution against Saudi Arabia. The left would rather the U.S. be beholden to the whims of dictators in foreign countries for energy supplies than increase the production of domestic resources. The same Democrats who feign concern about high prices are those who have repeatedly voted against measures that would bolster energy production. Some are the same Democrats who have opposed new natural gas infrastructure intended to address supply challenges in the northeast, where grid operators have warned that a shortfall of natural gas could lead to potential blackouts this winter.

Persistently high inflation has left Americans struggling to pay their bills. With home heating costs expected to rise this winter and squeeze budgets even tighter, the solution to help families is simple: end Democrats’ war on fossil fuels and unleash the production of American energy.