Heat your home with oil? ‘Sky high’ bills a growing struggle in N.L.

​People who heat their home with oil are feeling the burn, as fuel prices continue to tick upwards in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Just going sky high. Week after week after week,” said Jack Whelan in St. John’s. He paid about $900 on his last bill, he says, and is bracing for the next fill-up.

It cost Walter Harding about $2,000 to fill the tank this week. He estimates his bill increased by $500 recently.

“Pretty much the entirety of your month’s salary is gone just for a tank of home heating fuel,” said Harding.

To save costs, Harding says he’s lowered the heat from 19 C to 16.5 C at home. He puts on sweaters, leaves the oven door open after cooking, and doesn’t warm the whole house.

“Anything at all to get a bit of heat into the home,” he said.

WATCH | Watching home heating fuel costs is like riding a roller-coaster, man says:

People who heat their homes with oil are feeling the burn of rising prices

Fuel prices have skyrocketed across Newfoundland and Labrador this month as a result of the ongoing war in the Middle East. And as the CBC’s Laura Howells reports, residents who heat their homes with oil say it’s getting to a point where filling their tank becomes too expensive.

Furnace oil up 74 cents since January

Furnace oil cost between $1.95 and $2.14 per litre on Thursday.

The price went up by 74 cents between Jan. 9 and March 26.

The Public Utilities Board has made seven “extraordinary” fuel price adjustments so far in March, raising or lowering prices multiple days in a row this week.

The board says recent fluctuations are due to changes to the market prices it requires for calculations — and there’s been a lot of volatility since early March.

On Thursday, furnace oil cost 70 cents more than the same date last year.

Prices are “like a roller-coaster,” said Whalen.

“You don’t know what it’s going to be. It all depends on, of course, the things in the Middle East. And so what can we do about that? Really nothing.”

The rapid rise in the cost of fuel came after Iran effectively closed a key global oil corridor, the Strait of Hormuz, in wake of joint U.S.-Israeli attacks that began about a month ago.

Seniors struggling, coping in different ways

Many seniors are struggling with their heat bills this winter, says Sharron Callahan, executive director of the N.L. Public Sector Pensioners’ Association.

“The cost of oil has just escalated so much over the past number of months that people are just finding it really difficult to keep pace,” said Callahan.

Callahan, who has filled up every month this winter, expects her next bill will be over a thousand dollars, up from $842.

Callahan said seniors are keeping their homes cooler, wearing extra clothing, leaving home during the day, or moving in with family during winter.

Whalen agrees it’s tough on seniors. He says he drives less nowadays as a way to save money.

“People have various ways of cutting their costs when it comes to heating,” he said.

“But you can’t go cold.”