Average Texas Heating Bills

People who live in warm weather states don’t generally have to worry as much as their cold weather counterparts about their energy bills rising during the winter months. However, there are warm states where the average heating bills are still high and this can make it tough for residents on a budget to get through the winter. Believe it or not Houston has been named one of the top twenty priciest places to pay for heat in this nation causing many Texas residents to wonder what they can do to lower their heating costs this year.

The average winter heating bill in the Houston area is about $500 for the total winter season. This is considerably cheaper than some of the coldest places in the country (where people pay that amount on average each month during the season!) However, it’s still higher than spring and fall energy costs in the state and can be tough to pay for the people who live there.

One important thing to note is that Texas has about a fifty-fifty split when it comes to using natural gas vs. electricity to heat the home. This is important because the option that you select to heat your home can have a significant impact on your energy bills. Natural gas is considered the cheaper option and is expected to decrease in price for winter 2010/ 2011. The people using this option in Texas should find it fairly easy to pay their bills. Electricity costs are a bit higher than natural gas although Texas residents generally pay a fair price for electricity. The really good news for TX electricity customers is that they have the right to choose a lower cost electricity supplier to help immediately decrease their winter heating bills.

Two of the more expensive options for heating a home during the winter months are to use heating oil and propane. The costs of these heating options are expected to rise this winter. Luckily less than four percent of Houston residents are using these costly methods of heating the home. So residents are doing what they need to do to keep their average TX heating bill low even as those winter winds do start to creep in a little bit.