Your Heating Bills May Leave You Speechless After Arctic Blast
Tracie Klossner opened her utility bill this month and immediately walked over to her thermostat to turn the temperature down a few degrees.
Klossner lives in the Rochester, New York area. She's used to harsh winters. But the recent stretch of consecutive days with temperatures barely cracking the 20s and dropping to negative degrees was longer than usual. Her bill for the month ending February 2 came to over $720 for her 2,600-square-foot home.
"I was just utterly speechless," said Klossner, 54, a purchasing manager for a small manufacturing company.
Millions of Americans just dealt with the coldest Arctic air invasion of the winter season. Now comes the sticker shock of high utility bills after heat ran nearly nonstop to combat the freeze.
The Cold Was Relentless
Multiple rounds of Arctic air spread through the eastern half of the country in recent weeks. A fierce winter storm brought snow, ice, and cold the weekend of January 24 across the Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.
Then the weekend of February 7, the coldest winter blast yet plunged temperatures in the Northeast to single digits or below zero. Wind chills recorded as low as minus 30 degrees.
The prolonged below-freezing temperatures prevented snow pack from melting for an extended time. That reflected sunlight and limited natural warming. Thus, it kept it colder and kept energy demand higher.
Heating Demand Shot Up
Average heating demand in regions that dealt with the Arctic blasts was estimated between 115% to 150% above normal. Heating costs vary depending on the type of heating source and location. Electricity is the most expensive heating source this winter season.
More than half of Americans are seeing high heating costs because of the Arctic cold. About 30% to 40% of homes in New England rely on home heating oil. They fill up a tank that lasts awhile. The sticker shock may not be as high for those homes because they filled up before the season began.
Electric heating bills during the roughly 25-day cold spell were expected to run hundreds of dollars above normal for some households.
America has not experienced a winter with this many dangerous impacts and costly disruptions since 2021.
One Woman's Bill
Klossner uses a mix of electric and gas to heat her home. Furnace runs on electric. Water tank and stove run on natural gas. Her $724.28 bill this month was for both, billed by the same utility company.
That's about $100 more than her bill from the same time last year. Up over $300 from her bill in 2023.
Klossner usually keeps her thermostat at 71 degrees. After seeing her bill this month, she's trying 68 degrees instead.
"There is nothing in my budget that accounts for a $750 electric bill," Klossner said. She doesn't know how lower-income families will possibly afford bills like these.
Bills Were Already Rising
The extreme cold hit as Americans in many parts of the country were already expecting heightened utility costs.
Household utility costs spiked by 41% between 2020 and 2025. That's according to a September analysis by J.D. Power, based on prices for electricity, gas, and water.
For this winter season, home heating costs are expected to jump about 9.2%, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Electric heating costs are expected to rise 12.2%. Natural gas costs expected to rise 8.4%.
"On average, households are expected to spend $995 on heating this winter, an increase of $84 from last year," a NEADA report said.
Why Costs Keep Rising
The rising costs come from multiple factors:
High interest rates increasing the cost of financing power plants
Rising natural gas costs
Higher demand for electricity partly due to data centers
Aging infrastructure
Reduced federal incentives for renewable energy
Electric and gas utility companies requested nearly $31 billion in rate increases in 2025. This is more than double what they requested in 2024.
Klossner said she's been seeing steady increases in her bills in recent years. She's perplexed by the hikes but feels she has little recourse as a homeowner with no control over rising costs and dependent on her utilities.
"The feeling of helplessness and anger are the two things that I'm being left with," she said.
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