Winter Heating Costs and Older and Low-Income Households - March 2011

Since the mid-1990s, home heating costs have increased as a result of an overall rise in energy costs. During this period energy cost increases have outpaced the ability of many low-income consumers to adequately heat their home.

Because more than half (54 percent) of older households in the United States use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, changes in the price of natural gas tend to have the biggest influence on the heating costs of older consumers.