19 cheap or free ways to cut your winter energy bills
Winter heating bills are likely to rise this year, the Department of Energy says. Last winter, fuel bills were unusually cheap, thanks to warmer-than-usual winter temperatures combined with lower-than-usual fuel costs. This year, both temperatures and fuel prices are expected to be more in line with historical trends.
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The U.S. Energy Information Administration advises customers to expect to pay more, depending on the type of heating fuel they mostly use:
Natural gas: Expect to pay an average of $116 (22 percent) more this winter compared with 2015.
Heating oil: Prepare to pay an average of $378 (38 percent) over last winter.
Electricity: Get ready for an average increase of $49 (5 percent) over last winter's heating bills.
Propane: Costs associated with propane heating will rise this winter, although they'll remain lower than most recent years. Increases are expected to vary by region. The EIA report singled out average increases predicted in two regions: $290 (30 percent higher) in the Midwest and $346 (21 percent higher) in the Northeast.
You can't do anything about rising fuel prices. But since heating living spaces accounts for about 45 percent of your home's energy bills, there's a big potential payoff for doing all you can to cut back your consumption of heating fuel. Increased consumption (because of colder weather) is expected to account for about half of this winter's bigger costs.
Here are 19 cheap or free things you can do to cut energy costs. None requires a big investment, yet any of these changes can contribute to nice savings:
Marilyn Lewis and Susan Ladika contributed to this post.
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