Households that heat with propane are projected to spend about $1,246 this winter, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department’s statistics arm, said in its Winter Fuels Outlook released October 6. That is 3 percent less than last winter, because the agency expects propane to average $2.52 a gallon, down 2 percent, and households to burn 494 gallons, down 1 percent. The national figure hides a wide spread, from $1,164 in the South to $1,687 in the Northeast, and it comes with a catch: a national energy-assistance directors association forecasts propane bills going up 8.7 percent.
EIA counts 6.361 million households that use propane as their main heating fuel, with 2.191 million in the Midwest, 1.901 million in the South, 1.295 million in the Northeast and 974,000 in the West. The agency says propane heating is more common in the upper Midwest and the Northeast. For those homes, the national average is only a starting point, and the useful question is where in a range of more than $500 a household’s region falls and whether heating assistance can cover part of it.
A propane bill that runs from $1,164 in the South to $1,687 in the Northeast is the kind of cost 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.
Find propane-bill and home-repair help in the Home-Cost Relief Kit →
Where propane bills run highest
In the Winter Fuels Outlook, the Northeast has the highest propane price at $3.28 a gallon and the highest winter bill at $1,687, though EIA expects that bill to fall 15 percent because of lower prices and lower consumption. The Midwest is projected at $1,305, down 4 percent, on a price of $2.04 a gallon. The South is projected at $1,164, unchanged from last winter, on a price of $3.19. EIA does not publish a propane figure for the West, and its national average is a household-weighted average of the other three regions.
The regions get to similar totals in different ways. Midwest households burn 641 gallons a winter, the most of any region, but pay the lowest price per gallon. Southern households burn just 365 gallons and pay $3.19, close to the Northeast’s price. Northeast households land in between at 515 gallons. EIA’s weather assumption for the Northeast is about 12 percent fewer heating degree days than last winter, a measure of how cold it is, which is a large part of why that region’s bill is projected to drop the most.
Two forecasts, two directions for propane
EIA’s weekly survey puts residential propane at $2.598 a gallon as of October 5, 18.1 cents above a year earlier. The outlook’s winter average of $2.52 sits below that reading, so the projected 3 percent drop in household spending assumes prices ease as the season goes on. EIA collects the weekly prices only during the heating season, October through March, and updates them every Wednesday afternoon.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association, the group led by executive director Mark Wolfe, projects propane bills up 8.7 percent this winter in a September 14 release, with natural gas up 5.8 percent and electricity up 9.0 percent. Its release gives percent changes by fuel and a dollar average only for all households, $1,030, so the two forecasts cannot be lined up dollar for dollar. The two forecasts point in opposite directions on propane.
A winter bill that arrives in uneven pieces
EIA spreads the $1,246 across five months: $201 in November, $274 in December, $302 in January, $251 in February and $218 in March. December, January and February together account for $827, about two-thirds of the total, and January alone is roughly a quarter. EIA’s calculations assume households pay the prevailing retail price as they use the fuel, so the monthly amounts describe use rather than delivery dates.
The count of propane households has barely moved. EIA puts it at 6.361 million in 2026, unchanged from 2025 and just under the 6.397 million it counted in 2021, with the Northeast the only region where the number is growing, up 3 percent this year. A fuel with that stable a customer base still swings between regions on price and weather, which is why the national $1,246 describes few actual households.
Applying for help with a propane tank
The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program page says the program helps with home heating bills, prevents shutoffs and reconnects service, repairs or replaces heating equipment and makes homes more energy efficient. A household starts an application online at energyhelp.us or by phoning the National Energy Assistance Referral hotline on 1-866-674-6327, which is staffed weekdays between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern. The page says the program charges no fee, and it directs anyone offered a LIHEAP grant or asked to pay to the HHS Fraud Hotline at 1-800-447-8477.
The page does not state income limits and points applicants to energyhelp.us or their local program for the requirements. NEADA says the program is funded at $4 billion now, that it has asked for $7 billion to be provided before winter bills arrive, and that the program reaches only a fraction of eligible households.
EIA publishes its next Short-Term Energy Outlook on November 10, and the weekly propane survey updates every Wednesday through March. The weekly survey will show whether prices ease toward the $2.52 winter average from the $2.598 posted in early October.
Propane bills differ by $523 across regions
A propane home in the Northeast faces $1,687 this winter and one in the South $1,164, so the programs that fit depend on region, furnace and tank. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit puts heating, cooling and home-repair help in one 64-page reference, so a household can see which programs fit its own situation.
See which heating and home-repair programs fit a propane home in the Home-Cost Relief Kit →
This article was prepared with AI assistance from cited public sources and reviewed before publication.
