Heating Bill Has Skyrocketed

So I wanted to tackle this issue. We've heard quite a bit, which is my winter heating cost has been outrageous. It's been higher than usual. Some clients say it's doubled from, from last year. And I wanted to dig into that. I wanted to dig into a little bit more because it's important, because it, you know, but the price, everything going up, inflation, energy cost, things are more expensive. But why is that the case? Right? Or what can I do to offset it, help it? What can I do at home to practice better habits, to even use less energy? But the, you know, I did some research and you know, came across the, the link for the US Energy Information Administration, eia.goveia.gov and I'll, I'll link this up in, in the notes on the podcast and YouTube. So you can, if you're watching YouTube or listening to the podcast, you can, you can get to it. But it's basically their short term outlook. They, you know, did it pretty regular. But this came out, this is their outlook from October. And I'm reading right from the website, it says, quote, many households across the United States are likely to spend more on energy in the winter of 2022, 23 compared to recent winters. Higher forecast energy expenditures are the result of higher fuel prices combined with higher heating demand because of forecast of a slightly cold, colder weather than last winter. Because of forecast of slightly colder weather than last winter. That's a tongue twister for me. And to get this chart, you know, base case, they give a base case, natural gas best base case, they define winter as being October through March. So if you're using natural gas, base case, average household, it's going to be up 28%. If you use oil, 27%, electricity only 10%, propane, 5%. And then they give a model of, you know, if it's 10% colder or 10% warmer. Now it's been a relatively warm winter for us here in southeastern North Carolina. I think, I think January was, you know, probably the fifth, I think I saw where it's the fifth warmest on record. So it's pretty warm. So even at that it's, you know, if it's 10% warmer, natural gas up 19%, oil 15%, electricity 8%, propane down 12% because you're not using that much propane, but you're not using that much across the board. Forecast expenditures are also very on US Regions, the price, given the rate of inflation, changes in expenditures and prices adjusted for inflation would be roughly 6 to 7% less than the values reported for this outlook. We define the winter season, like I said, as October through March. Weather is a key input to our energy consumption. Based on weather forecast from the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we expect increases in winter energy consumption. The average household winter energy expenditures discussed in this supplement are broad measures for comparing recent winters and reflect energy expenditures for all uses, not just heating. So, you know, in short, it tells you that prices are up, demand is up. There's also a good article on Forbes, Forbes.com and the title of the article is why Natural Gas Prices Quadrupled in Two Years. But I also, you know, I won't read that to you, but I'll also link that article up for you as well. But it's the global market. I mean, demand for homegrown energy has quadrupled in two years. Like Darrow says, owned account. Basically, the war between Russia and Ukraine has, you know, has fueled this, not really helped it. But you can stay warm. You can take measures to not break the bank. A factor in determining the cost of energy is your temperature sitting on your thermostat. Obviously, the higher the temperature you set, the higher the temperature, the more energy you're using to heat your home. So to save energy, try lowering your temperature a few degrees and it will make a difference. Also, you know, check around windows and doors and make sure no drafts. You don't have drafts and you have air leaking out. Also, you can, when you have these sunny days where sun's coming, let the sun come in and naturally heat your own. Open up blinds, open up curtains, let natural sunlight be of help to heat your home. So don't be afraid to do that. But another factor can be a inefficient system. If you have, you know, the same furnace, this, you know, same System for over 10 years, maybe it's not as efficient as it once was. It's definitely not efficient as it once was. You know, studies have proven that things become less efficient over time. But if it was not as efficient at the beginning, it's definitely behind the curve now. So it may be time to even upgrade to a newer, more efficient model. It uses less energy to heat your home. Even if you don't feel like replacing the entire system, consider, at least consider getting a tune up a maintenance make sure someone goes, someone professional goes through your system and looks at it and cleansing. We've talked about before on this program many times about dirt being the insulator, making things to work harder, and dirt being the number one enemy of your air conditioner or furnace. Dirt is the enemy it can get on your coil, if you have a furnace, it can get on your blow reel, it can make things work harder, which causes you to use more energy, which is causing your bill to be higher. We know from the data and from the stats that your bill is going to be higher just because the energy prices are higher. But there are things you can do to make sure your is efficient as you can be. Things like getting tuned up, getting your unit checked, getting your unit serviced, getting it clean, making sure you're not pulling too many amps, make sure you're not, make sure gas pressure is good, you're not using too much gas because you got too much gas flowing through the system. So it's things like that. Even though the prices have gone up, demand has gone up, prices are going to go up, inflation is there. There are things you can do to, to help your case, to not be so inefficient again. When it's a sunny day and it's a little chilly outside, use that natural light to come into the house to heat the home. Open those blinds, open those curtains. Don't have the blackout curtains. It's not the summertime. You don't want to keep the heat outside, you want to bring the heat inside. So use that natural light in, in your home as much as possible. We talk a lot in the summer about not heating your home, not running appliances, or not cooking on those really hot days, not adding heat to your home. Well, here you want to, you know, shutting the windows, keeping the heat out. Here you want to bring the heat in. Cooking at home is fine. You know, open the curtains and the blinds is fine because that natural light will heat up your home by itself and help you and not hurt you. So just a few things to consider. The prices have gone up. No doubt about it. Inflation is here. The price of energy has gone up. But there are a few things you can do. Start by adjusting your thermostat lower the better. Make sure you don't have drafts and windows and doors and you're losing the air you're bringing in the house. And all that goes along with maybe your system is time for a tune up. If it's old, any fishing equipment, you might want to look at upgrading. So there's a few things you can do to offset what is going to happen, which is, you know, prices are where they are, but control what you can control. You can control how efficient or inefficient your system is. You know, are you losing air through the duct system? Do you need to look at Duck sibling Duck cleaning. What. What's happening? Where. Where is my energy going? And am I getting everything I pay for?