Midwest to get a break on rising heating costs

The price of electricity, the second most popular power source for heating in the Midwest, is expected to dip 1 percent nationwide this winter. The price of propane, another popular heating fuel, is expected to rise 4 percent in the region, the agency said.

Nationwide, natural gas will rise 3 percent, while propane costs will rise 7 percent and heating oil costs will increase 8 percent, the agency said.

“Gas prices are very low and stable,” said Chase Kelley, spokeswoman for Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio, the Miami Valley’s primary supplier of natural gas.

Kelley called relatively low natural gas prices “the one good thing” to result from the recession.

Last winter, West Central Ohio customers who used natural gas paid $1,000 less than those who used propane to heat their homes and $200 to $1,000 less than those who heated with electricity, Vectren said.

A spokeswoman for Dayton Power & Light Co. said her company was working on a response to EIA projections. A spokeswoman for Duke Energy could not immediately answer questions about Duke’s projections.

Homeowners with oil-burning furnaces face the greatest heating costs this winter, even though only about 6 percent of U.S. homes use heating oil and about 80 percent of those homes are in the Northeast, the agency said.

“Average expenditures for households that heat with oil are forecast to be higher than in any previous winter,” the agency said.

Ken Womacks, Duncan Oil Co. office supervisor in Springfield, was not surprised by the projection for heating oil expenses, even though he said the price of oil has dropped in the past month.

“We’re kind of at the mercy of the terminals, because that’s where we get all the fuel,” Womacks said. A price increase is “unfortunate because it makes it harder on our customers.”

Citing a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast, the EIA said the continental U.S. will see temperatures 2 percent warmer this winter compared to last winter. However, commercial forecaster AccuWeather has said that the North Central U.S., including Ohio and the Great Lakes region, will bear the brunt of the upcoming winter.