As temperatures plunge, the cost of staying warm is going up

While inflation has come way down, certain prices are still rising much faster than that overall measure of 2.4%. That includes utilities.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association projects that people will have to spend over $1,000, on average, to heat their homes this winter — about 11% more than last year.

It has been absolutely frigid in much of the country this winter, including in places that aren’t used to it.

“We had freezing temperatures all the way into southern Florida this winter. Those types of conditions make a difference in people's bills and their ability to pay those bills,'“ said Katrina Metzler, executive director of the National Energy & Utility Affordability Coalition.

Lots of low-income households struggle to afford heat every year, she said, but this winter is worse, both because of the weather and because electricity and natural gas prices are higher.

“I consider myself a middle-income household, and I've struggled this winter in Virginia with paying my utility bills.” Metzler said. “I’ve seen those same price increases that everyone has seen.”

About one in six households is currently behind on their utility bills, according to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

“It's like everything is going wrong. You have higher prices, colder winter, and people need to buy more of an expensive product,” he said.

When utility bills go up, people are just stuck, he said. “With electricity, for example, you can't say, ‘Gee, ‘I'll go down the street and buy a different brand of electricity.’ You can't shop around.”

Not like you can with groceries or cellphone plans. The reality is, this is not just a “this winter” problem, Wolfe noted.

“The cost of natural gas has gone up,” he said. “Lots of new data centers are putting pressure on the grid, and utilities have to upgrade the grid. They've delayed this for a number of years; we have to catch up.”

Put all that together, and Wolfe said the cost of electricity and heat is likely to keep rising.