Heating oil averaged $5.922 a gallon across the United States in September, up from $3.592 a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. That is a 64.9 percent increase over September 2025 and 15.1 percent more than August’s average of $5.145, so the price was still climbing as the heating season opened. About 4.1 million American homes use oil as their main heating fuel, roughly 3 percent of households, and the Energy Department expects them to see the largest increase in winter spending of any fuel. A federal heating-aid program exists, but advocates say it reaches only a fraction of eligible households.
Oil heat is concentrated in the Northeast, which holds 3.388 million of the 4.134 million oil-heated homes in the Energy Information Administration’s 2026 count. The agency says changes in wholesale heating oil prices reach consumers within roughly four to six weeks, which puts September’s increase close to the first fills of the season. For a household with an oil tank, the question is whether state heating assistance can cover part of the $2,115 the agency projects for the winter, and how to line up that application before the tank runs low.
A $2,115 winter oil bill is the kind of cost that state heating programs take applications for. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit explains heating, cooling and home-repair help and how to claim each program.
Track each heating-aid application for an oil bill with the Home-Cost Relief Kit →
Fuel oil rose faster than any other home energy price
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts fuel oil #2, the category used for home heating oil, at $5.922 a gallon for September, against $3.592 for September 2025 and $5.145 for August. The Midwest average rose even faster, from $3.333 to $5.696, a gain of 70.9 percent. BLS notes that its monthly figures describe the month as a whole rather than any specific date, so a delivery in mid-October can cost more or less than September’s average depending on what the wholesale market did in between.
Other home energy prices moved far less in the same table. Electricity averaged 19.6 cents a kilowatt-hour, up 4.3 percent from September 2025, and piped natural gas averaged $1.700 a therm, up 5.4 percent. The consumer price index tells the same story. In BLS’s September inflation report, the fuel oil index rose 15.3 percent in the month and 74.2 percent over 12 months, while the broader energy index rose 5.2 percent in the month and 20.4 percent in the year. Gasoline gained 34.2 percent over the year, and fuel oil still outran it.
EIA’s $2,115 winter estimate for oil heat
The Energy Information Administration’s Winter Fuels Outlook, released October 6, projects that the average oil-heated household will spend $2,115 from November through March, 21 percent more than last winter. The agency expects heating oil to average $5.26 a gallon across those five months, 34 percent above last winter, starting at $5.79 in November and easing to $4.84 by March. Consumption is projected to fall 9 percent to 402 gallons, because the forecast assumes a warmer Northeast, and that keeps the dollar increase below the price increase.
Oil is the costliest of the four fuels in the outlook by a wide margin. Natural gas households are projected to spend $640, down 9 percent, propane households $1,246, down 3 percent, and electric households $1,196, up 4 percent. EIA says global distillate production has fallen because of reduced refining activity worldwide, which pushed up import costs and export demand and left U.S. stocks low going into winter. The agency cautions that the four averages are not a like-for-like cost comparison, since homes using each fuel differ in size, climate and efficiency.
Advocates say heating aid has not kept pace
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) forecasts heating oil bills up 31.3 percent this winter, the sharpest rise of any fuel, and an average household heating cost of $1,030 across all fuels, up $82 or 8.7 percent. The group ties the oil increase largely to higher global oil prices linked to the war in Iran. Executive director Mark Wolfe said: “This is a warning that too many families are entering winter with no room left in their budgets.”
Federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is $4 billion at present, and NEADA has asked for $7 billion to be provided before winter bills arrive. The group says the program reaches only a fraction of eligible households. Its release also counts more than 275 electric and natural gas utilities that have raised rates, won approval for increases or proposed them since 2025, so other household bills are rising alongside fuel.
Applying for heating help with an oil tank
The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program page says the program covers heating bills, preventing shutoffs and reconnecting service, repair or replacement of heating equipment, and making homes more energy efficient. Applications go through energyhelp.us or the National Energy Assistance Referral hotline at 1-866-674-6327, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. The page says the program charges no fee and does not provide direct grants to individuals, and it tells anyone who is offered a grant or asked to pay to call the HHS Fraud Hotline at 1-800-447-8477.
The federal page does not list income limits. It sends applicants to energyhelp.us or their local program for the requirements, so the requirements are set where the application is made. Heating-equipment repair and replacement is among the uses the page lists, which means the program is not limited to paying fuel bills, and an application can ask about a failing furnace or boiler as well as a delivery.
For oil households the timing is set by the tank more than the calendar. EIA’s outlook puts the heaviest month in January, when the average household burns 97 gallons at $5.26, about $509 for the month. The agency’s next Short-Term Energy Outlook is scheduled for November 10 and will update the winter estimate.
Oil heat at $5.922 a gallon needs a plan before January
A missed renewal date can cost an oil-heated home the help it was counting on against a $2,115 winter. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit includes an application log and renewal calendar, so each heating-aid filing and each renewal sits in one place. The kit runs 64 pages.
Keep every heating-aid renewal date in the Home-Cost Relief Kit calendar →
This article was prepared with AI assistance from cited public sources and reviewed before publication.
