Miranda McDermott is dreading winter.

With home heating costs forecast to reach their highest levels in more than 10 years, McDermott of Allegheny Township said her family can’t afford to pay monthly heating bills in full.

“Our average heating bill is $800,” McDermott said. “We have wood chopped and ready to burn, but our wood burner is broken and needs electrical work, but the cost of fixing is so high we’ve just been doubling up on warm clothing and blankets. It’s sad but true for a lot of families.”

Many homeowners are taking steps to lower heating bills as they brace for surging prices of natural gas, home heating oil and electricity this winter.

Families nationwide can expect to pay an average of more than 17% more (from $1,025 to $1,208) for home heat compared to last winter, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

The biggest spike nationally is for those using natural gas, with costs expected to increase more than 34%, according to the association. Heating oil is expected to jump 12.8% and electricity 7%.

Nationally, home heating oil costs $5.70 per gallon, an 85% increase from last year’s average price of $3.11, according to October data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In Pennsylvania, the average residential electricity rate is 7% higher than the national average, according to EIA.

Pennsylvania is among the top five states experiencing the highest heating costs. The others are Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

‘It can get tight for people’

Catherine Pinker, 92, lives in Allegheny Township and is on a fixed income.

Last winter, her average monthly heating bills ranged from $150 to more than $300.

“I’m not too happy about it, and I know it can get tight for people,” she said.

Pinker routinely schedules service for her 2008 gas furnace to prevent surprise maintenance issues.

So far, she hasn’t made major adjustments to her lifestyle to try and lower her heating bills.

“As long as I’m comfortable, I don’t touch the thermostat. I don’t like to be cold,” Pinker said.

Chad Warhold, owner of Warhold Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in North Huntington, has been in business eight years.

“Electricity prices are the highest I’ve seen. The cost of oil is determined by the barrel of oil coming from the national markets. I can’t explain why electric is so high,” Warhold said.

Some of Warhold’s customers are replacing old heating equipment with newer, more energy-efficient units.

“Eighty percent efficient natural gas furnace means that 20% of your money goes out the door in the cost to heat your home,” Warhold said.

The average cost of a 98% furnace ranges from $5,500 to $8,000, compared to an 80% gas furnace that costs about $4,000.

Most of Warhold’s customers in the Greensburg and Irwin areas use natural gas to heat their homes and businesses.

Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review Chad Warhold, owner of Warhold Mechanicals, stands for a photo outside his business in North Huntingdon on Thursday.  

“We get contacted a lot because we’re known for transitioning customers from oil to natural gas,” Warhold said.

Updating and replacing old furnaces and equipment is one way to reduce heating bills.

“I had a customer in Braddock who replaced a 1950s gas furnace with a 95% gas furnace. She was on the budget plan with her gas company (Columbia Gas) and, after that year when they readjusted, she had a credit for several months,” Warhold said. “She was ecstatic and couldn’t believe the savings she had. That furnace paid for itself in a few years.”

Warhold said he expects the increases to last for more than one heating season.

Dell Cromie has owned and operated Glassmere Fuel Service in West Deer for more than 45 years.

Cromie said filling a 200-­gallon tank with heating oil will cost customers more than $500.

“I’ve never seen prices this high. It’s outrageous,” he said.

Last year, prices were almost $2 less per gallon for heating oil, and Cromie said it boils down to a supply issue.

“Fifteen percent of the oil is off of the market because we’re not accepting Russian barrels. And OPEC nations just cut crude production 2.3 million barrels per day. There’s a lot less supply on the market,” he said.

At Glassmere, customers are ordering less oil more frequently because they can’t afford to fill up a tank all at once.

“It’s understandable they have to do that. It’s a ridiculous price,” Cromie said.

He said the demand for oil heat in Allegheny County is practically nil. But in rural areas of Butler and Armstrong counties, where natural gas lines haven’t been installed, the need for oil remains constant.

Cromie said his average customer can expect to use about 500 gallons of oil during a winter season and pay about 20% more this year.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review Dell Cromie, president of Glassmere Fuel Service, photographed Thursday in West Deer.  

“We don’t see any end in sight right now,” Cromie said when asked when oil, electric and natural gas prices could decrease.

Dennis Caveglia, owner of Valley Plumbing and Heating in Leechburg, said his customers are aware of the impending price increases.

Caveglia said many of his customers are saying they intend to keep their thermostats as low as they can tolerate to keep their heating bills down.

“I recall spikes in oil prices in the past, but never a time when all fuels have increased so much at the same time, including electric,” he said.

Caveglia advises homeowners to insulate, putting plastic on single-pane windows and sealing cracks around doors and windows, to help prevent heat escape.

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and West Penn Power/First Energy offer free home energy audits and energy efficiency plans to those who are income eligible.

‘Is this our new normal?’

Ashley Martin and her husband, Quinto, have nine children and live in a large, three-story home in Leechburg. An old boiler dating to the early 1900s is still in use, with radiant heat using natural gas.

Martin said her heating bills have more than doubled the past two years.

“It’s disgusting. We are on a budget and paying more than $650 a month, and that’s more than a car payment,” Martin said. “The heating prices last year really increased. We used to pay about $300 a month.”

Their home has eight fireplaces — all out of service because of their age — but the Martins hope to replace them with wood-burning inserts.

“But it’s expensive and it’s hard to even get appointments to have someone come and look at them,” Martin said.

The Martins have resorted to bundling up more inside, and they keep the thermostat around 66 degrees.

“This, combined with increasing food costs, makes us cut back on travel and entertainment,” Martin said.

Bill Ludwig of Allegheny Township uses natural gas to heat his two-story, 20-year-old home.

He lives with his wife and two children and, with two family members working remotely from home, gone are the days of lowering the thermostat all day and having an empty house while people are at work.

The family enrolled in the budget plan with West Penn Power and Peoples Gas. On average, he said, the family pays about $150 per month for heating and cooling costs.

“This plan will help us to smooth out and average the pain of a spike in the projected energy costs this year,” said Ludwig, 61.

Ludwig said the last time he recalls high heating bills he was living in an older home in New Kensington.

He insulated all of the windows in his current home but is considering replacing them because they’re 20 years old.

“These rising costs are a concern I never had before,” Ludwig said.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review Allegheny Township resident Bill Ludwig plans to use his gas fireplace less this winter in an effort to reduce his natural gas bill.  

To help lower the winter heating bill, the family decided to make some lifestyle adjustments.

“We’ve already talked as a family that we will keep our thermostat lower — reducing by about three degrees. We’ll make small adjustments like wearing a sweatshirt instead of a T-shirt around the house,” Ludwig said.

They plan to leave the gas fireplace off as often as possible.

Ludwig said his wife enjoys using the fireplace, but with gas prices so high, it’s a luxury to have the fireplace on.

“I’m checking the weatherstripping everywhere now. I was never concerned about it until now,” Ludwig said. “My main concern is all these prices, for everything, are going up. If the economy gets better, will these prices go down or is this our new normal?”

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