Feds see higher heating costs, colder temperatures - Oct. 12, 2005

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Feds see higher heating costs, colder temperatures - Oct. 12, 2005: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A government report issued Wednesday predicts large jumps in heating bills for Americans this winter and continued high oil prices in 2006 due to slightly colder temperatures and the continuing impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the nation's energy production.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that heating bills for all fuel types will cost Americans about one-third more this winter on average, assuming typical weather. A colder-than-normal winter could lift energy prices nearly 50 percent.

The three-quarters of Americans who use natural gas to heat their homes could see even greater sticker shock when they get their fuel bills, the agency warned. It sees the cost to heat by gas rising 47.6 percent in the case of typical weather to $1,096, and by more than two-thirds to $1,242 in case of colder-than-expected weather.

Even a warmer-than-expected winter will see natural gas heating bills rise 29.8 percent to $964, according to forecasts.

Households that primarily heat their homes with electricity however, can expect to pay about 5 percent more on average compared to last year, the agency said.

Even though the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting that the 2005-2006 winter will be for warmer-than-normal across much of the central and western United States, forecasters are predicting slightly colder temperatures than last season based on heating degree-days, the EIA said in its report.

'The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration projects a 0.4 percent colder winter in the lower 48 states, in terms of heating degree-days relative to normal winter weather, which would be 3.2 percent colder than last winter,' the EIA said in its annual winter fuels outlook report.

Heating degree days are calculated by the difference between 65 degrees Fahrenheit and th"