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Two golfers walk down a fairway with their clubs on their backs at Forest Park Golf Course, Friday, March 20, 2020, in New York. With warm weather, people working from home are tempted to escape to the outdoors for a sport where they can practice safe social distancing. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) |
The plummeting price of crude oil continues to provide savings for U.S. households as heating oil prices fall as well.
“The price of crude oil is at an extraordinarily low level – it’s in the $20s per barrel and it was as high as the $60s at the start of the year,” said AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. “Now there’s always a lag before the savings work their way to the consumer. Nonetheless, prices of heating oil will continue to drop throughout the rest of the heating season.”
The two main benchmark prices for purchases of oil worldwide – Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate Crude – have fallen by 49.5 percent and 55 percent, respectively, in roughly a month.
A crude oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia kick-started the tumbling oil prices, which were exacerbated by the concerns about the new coronavirus (COVID-19) and a weaker demand for natural gas worldwide. An historically warm winter was already helping U.S. consumers save money on heating.
AccuWeather predicts those savings will continue through the rest of the heating season based on the exclusive AccuWeather 90-day forecast, which is available at AccuWeather.com (search your city to view the monthly outlook). You can also keep apprised of your forecast on the free AccuWeather app.
“The savings are great compared to normal for two reasons: The price of heating oil is low and the temperatures were warm,” said Myers. “Still, it costs less to heat as the temperatures rise. So, in terms of actual dollars, there is savings but they’re less dramatic than they were in the winter.”
Consumers in most U.S. cities have experienced significantly lower heating costs compared to normal and compared to the last heating season because of that milder weather. In some cases, the savings are more than 10 percent – and they’re even greater considering the lower costs for most types of fuel compared to last year.
In general, for much of the season, natural gas and heating oil were about 15 percent cheaper this year – “Now it’s probably going to be more like 18 or 20 percent for the rest of the season,” Myers said – so that percentage can be added to AccuWeather’s estimates. If the weather led to a seven percent difference, for example, then the savings figure to be roughly 25 percent overall moving forward. (See highlights here and farther below, as well as the 12-city breakdown in the slideshow.)
Residents in the following cities particularly will benefit based on the percentage change in savings from Sept. 1, 2018, through the end of the previous heating season compared to the same time period this season, based on AccuWeather’s 90-day forecast.
Estimated home heating costs on the ⬇️ for the following cities in the 2019-20 heating season compared to 2018-19, based on AccuWeather’s 90-day forecast. All of the percentages for this story assume no change in heating-related costs year-over-year; since most energy prices are lower than last year, most people will experience even greater savings in their heating costs.
Dallas: ⬇️ 17.8 percent
Los Angeles: ⬇️ 15.1 percent
Kansas City: ⬇️ 14.7 percent
Chicago: ⬇️ 13.4 percent
New York City: ⬇️ 12.7 percent
The heating season runs from Sept. 1 through the following April or May. The actual costs of electricity and fuel vary from year to year and from place to place, so the percentage change in consumers’ bills may vary from these percentages, which assume other heating-related costs are largely unchanged year-over-year.
Estimated home heating costs on the ⬇️ for the following cities in 2019-20 compared to the long-term average temperatures during the heating season, based on AccuWeather’s 90-day forecast.
Los Angeles: ⬇️ 33.6 percent
Washington, D.C.: ⬇️ 18.2 percent
San Francisco: ⬇️ 16.9 percent
Boston: ⬇️ 15.2 percent
New York City: ⬇️ 15.1 percent
Philadelphia: ⬇️ 15.1 percent
There are a number of ways to keep heating costs lower. One suggested tip to follow includes, obviously, monitoring thermostat settings. Homeowners also can replace worn weather strips and check to make sure that heating equipment is well maintained to curb costs. Upgrading a home’s insulation can lead to significant savings on energy costs as well.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.