Gas prices dropped -- why did heating costs jump?


Over the past few months we have seen the price of gas fall from about $4.00 per gallon to under $2.00 per gallon in most locations.

The price of natural gas has also fallen 25% over the same period. Good news for homeowners, right? Wrong. Homeowners who heat with natural gas saw an increase of 5% in their heating bills. Customers are angry and rightly so. Complaints are pouring in to utility providers and regulators. Some homeowners have had to turn down their thermostats to save money.

Now, if you have electric heat, it's even worse. One third of the home owners in the Northeast use electricity to heat their homes. They have seen an increase of 5% blamed primarily on the cost of coal.

Heating oil prices have dropped by 13% but this affects only 7% of home owners.

By the time all these complaints are filed and investigated winter will be over. Meanwhile, a large population of homeowners will have been held hostage by the energy companies.

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