Warm weather keeps fuel prices down

While the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter, at least the cost of heating our homes is down from last year’s records. With half of winter gone, D-N-R fuel analyst David Downing says all heating fuel is cheaper than last year. The cost of propane is down about 42 cents-a-gallon to 83 cents-a-gallon as there’s a large inventory available. He says it’s the same for heating oil, which has dropped to 85 cents-a-gallon, down from a dollar-twenty. He says propane and heating oil dropped because they’re made from crude oil and the price of oil’s been down. Downing says the warm winter isn’t the only reason for low heating prices, the cool summer also factors in.He says the southwest required less natural gas to generate electricity for cooling this summer, so natural gas inventories are 25-percent above last year. He says natural gas is selling around two dollars per b-t-u, compared to seven dollars per b-t-u last year. Downing says the cost of heating our homes should stay pretty constant through the rest of the winter.Downing says the heating fuel prices likely won’t increase until the demand for gasoline increases with the summer driving season.