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Eastchester Braces For Higher Heating Bills This Winter

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. – Because of higher delivery costs and predictions of a colder winter, Eastchester residents should expect to see slightly higher monthly heating bills than a year ago.

A colder winter will mean more heating use in Eastchester this year. New York residents have almost doubled their heating usage compared to this time last December.

A colder winter will mean more heating use in Eastchester this year. New York residents have almost doubled their heating usage compared to this time last December.

Photo Credit: NOAA National Climate Data Center

For those using home heating oil, the monthly bill would be the same as last year, if not for the colder winter temperatures expected, AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair said.

Crude oil, which makes up 60 percent to 70 percent of one gallon of heating oil, costs $88 per barrel. That’s “cheaper than it's been” when compared with its peak of $110 per barrel in 2012, Sinclair said.

“If things remain as they are right now – with demand down, mild weather, inventory up and crude oil prices down – it will bode well for the home heating bill this year,” he said.

But colder weather could create a crude oil competition between heating oil and gasoline, Sinclair added, resulting in higher demand and higher prices.

The average cost of a gallon of heating oil for Eastchester residents has been stable at about $4 per gallon, although it fluctuates 10 to 20 cents, Robison Oil Co-President Daniel Singer said.

A typical Eastchester home gets 1,400 to 1,500 gallons of heating oil each year and uses about 60 percent of that supply from December through March, Singer added.

Thanks to the national gas boom across the nation, prices are at their lowest in a decade. Delivery costs for Con Edison, which provides natural gas to Eastchester residents, however, have increased by 3.4 percent from last year, bringing the average gas-heating residential bill to about $348 per month, Con Edison spokesman Allan Drury said. That’s $11 higher than last year for November through March.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Data Center is predicting a colder winter than last year and, consequently, more heating usage.

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