A home heating bill crisis looms

Home heating bills will be soaring this winter and Americans, who are already struggling with high food and gas prices, are bracing for rapidly increasing prices and more financial hardship.

But the outlook for the Northeast part of the country, where over 8 million households depend on heating oil, is even much worse. Homeowners in the region are expected to see an increase in their heating bills an average of $2,725 on heating oil this winter.

While over half of America's households use natural gas for home heating purposes, the Northeast unfortunately has the largest concentration of home heating oil users in the entire country. And the prospect of a 30% plus increase in the price of heating oil and bills has the region on edge and trying to determine how they can save on electricity bills as well as heating.

Many North easterners have historically tried to get a jump on heating oil prices by filling their storage tanks during the early fall and late summer months when heating oil prices were historically lower. But this year's spike in crude prices has altered the usual seasonal pattern.