Winter’s coming, but breathe easy.
While the average cost of heating oil in the Northeast is expected to rise to $2.73 a gallon this season, that’s only 7 cents higher than last winter - and nowhere near what it was in the summer of 2008, when a gallon of heating oil surged to $4.71, and many worried it would soon go to $5.
The price forecast may ease one fear for bill-conscious consumers who are worried about losing their jobs or making ends meet.
With oil at $2.73 a gallon, the average household will spend $1,722 on heat from today until the heating season ends March 31, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy.
“It will be good if heating oil is off the radar this winter,’’ said Ken Williams of Scott-Williams Oil in Quincy. He said he hasn’t heard much lately from customers concerned about large bills - a marked difference from mid-2008, when the phones rang constantly.
Williams said Tuesday that prices are down about $1.30 a gallon from that period, and his 4,000 South Shore customers, many of whom are on payment plans, are getting smaller bills. “People are seeing about a 40 percent reduction in their budget payment,’’ Williams said.
In Massachusetts, where nearly 40 percent of households heat with oil, prices have fallen steadily since August, according to the state Department of Energy Resources. As of Tuesday, the average heat ing oil price locally was $2.41 a gallon - down more than $1 from the same period …
Read the original article at Boston
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Tags: Budget, consumer, house, Job, pay, price
