New England residents are getting slammed by high prices for home heating gas and oil, There is a run on firewood, whose prices are soaring.
As of Nov. 1, the average residential heating bill for gas jumped up 22 to 38%, depending on location and the supplier, on what the rate would be compared to last year. Over 50% of New England homes use gas for heat.
Another 33% of homes in New England use heating oil. Prices were 65% higher in October for heating oil, compared with same time last year, and that’s just the start.
There is a run on firewood, with merchants unable to meet the demand. In the Boston area, a cord of wood was going for about $500 in November, with kiln-dried wood costing up to $700.
Supplies on hand in the Northeast of “distillate fuels inventories,” according to the Energy Information Agency are 44% less than the same week last year, week of November 11. The many factors include the lack of storage, the lack of refining capacity, the fall in imports (some of which had traditionally come to New England from Russia,) the lack of pipelines, etc.
