Rising Heating Oil Costs Push New England Families to Firewood, Space Heaters, and Tapestries

At ATH Firewood in Ashburham, the kiln-dried orders are already booked out to the third week of December. Emily Clayton, who runs the firewood side of the family business, calls the season "a little bit overwhelming." Normally the company is still drawing on a stockpile built over the spring and summer. This year that inventory ran out in September, because customers planned far ahead. The business has added two full-time employees to split and stack wood, and buyers are willing to wait weeks.

The rush comes from a steep rise in what it costs to stay warm in Massachusetts. Last week, heating oil averaged $6.23 a gallon statewide, up 75 percent from a year ago. A standard tank fill-up now runs more than $1,500, over $600 more than last year. Electricity is also pricier: residents pay about 40 percent more than five years ago, according to US Chamber of Commerce data. Natural gas prices have climbed in recent years too. The source ties the surge in oil and fuel prices to the Trump administration's war in Iran, which began in February.

Governor Maura Healey declared an "energy emergency" this month. The move seeks to temporarily expand home heating assistance for eligible households and to reduce electric bills for a few months. Federal data show that more than half of Massachusetts households mainly heat with natural gas, while electricity and heating oil each serve about 20 percent. Far fewer use firewood, and fewer still use solar or heat pumps, which the state encourages through Mass Save incentives. New England is hit hardest because winters are long and more homes there rely on oil than anywhere else in the country. The Energy Information Administration expects oil-heated households nationally to pay roughly $370 more than last winter.

Mary Thomas, 48, a social worker in Stoneham, paid nearly $760 for a recent oil fill-up, "significantly more" than last year, and felt both anger and concern. She plans to seal windows, install door draft stoppers and hang tapestries on the walls for insulation. She will also lean on her wood stove, though pellets have more than doubled in price to $12 a bag at her hardware store. "We've tried to do all of the responsible things to be more energy efficient," she said. "But there's a point at which the cost is just so significant."

The firewood trade is not escaping the squeeze. Processing and drying equipment and delivery trucks run on diesel and propane, whose New England retail prices are up about 64 percent and 12 percent from last year. Roger Conner, who owns RC Conner Enterprises in New Hampshire, has raised prices several times since the war began. A cord of kiln-dried wood went from $495 to $595, and the baseline delivery charge from $25 to $95. "It's stressful getting logs, and it's stressful paying the fuel bill," he said. "We're not making any more money."

Chimney sweeps are busy as well. Tom Heffernan, vice president of sales at Master Chimney Sweepers in Natick, said this month has brought more jobs than any year since the pandemic, from customers who haven't used a fireplace or wood stove in a long time. His crews do 30 to 40 sweeping jobs a day.

Elsewhere, the strain shows in household budgets. Kelson Thomas, 33, a marine engineer in Falmouth, rents a gas-heated home, but his electric bills have risen noticeably and he expects heating costs to follow. He and his wife are putting off car repairs and considering a new credit card to pay for them, and their five children wear hand-me-downs and thrift-store clothes. "It seems like everything is up," he said.

In Lynn, software engineer Sherman Szeto, 34, paid $587 in September for half a tank of oil, $200 more than a year earlier, a "huge dent" in his family's budget. He built a price-comparison board called Tavlee, tracking oil companies across New England and spending a couple of hours daily verifying changes. Thousands have visited, he said.

One resident, Strauss, 50, a transportation engineer, worries many New Englanders will be "financially devastated" this winter. Whether Healey's emergency measures keep pace with the cold is the thing to watch.