By Michael Castro

The winter of 22-23 will see the prices of heating and lighting rising and it will cost more this year compared to last year, a lot more. A report just released by the Energy Information Administration predicts that home heating costs will go up because fuel prices are rising and fuel demand have increased over the previous winter. So more people are using more energy and there is less of it, so the prices will be higher.

The price from last year compared to this year increased 7.5% making the average cost to heat go from $1,025 to $1,202. This is the highest increase in a decade for both electricity and heating which will hurt a lot of families especially the low income families. Even in general this can tank someone’s check cause now they have to worry about staying warm in order to survive. Staying warm in the winter is more than just for comfort, it is about surviving the cold months.

There are 70,000 people living in Passaic and 17.2% of the population in Passaic live below the poverty line, barely getting by paycheck to paycheck. Price increase will make it harder to live in Passaic for those who already live in poverty. As the price inscreases people wonder why is it going up and why so much and what can I do to get by?

The biggest reason why the heating and electricity prices have gone up exponentially is because of the low supply of oil. With worldwide events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as competition for oil from newer powers like China, and ecological concerns making less oil available from western nations, the outlook for oil is for high prices, very high prices.

Those of us that have a car already know that gas prices are at the highest they have ever been. Oil products in general are also at record highs. The high cost of oil means that other things we might not think of as related to oil are also going to increase. Electricity is made mostly by burning fossil fuels, so even if you have an electric car, it will cost a lot more to charge.

Passaic is already not a cheap place to live, but it’s home. Many are here not by choice and stay because they have nowhere else to go. If they could get out and live somewhere else that is more inexpensive to live, they would.

One Passaic resident source said, “It is so annoying and frustrating in a financial way, I have to not only work more now to make enough money to pay for the bills but I have a child to take care of, and it isn’t like I can spend more than what I already have to pay on a babysitter. So it makes it harder to go about my life cause I have to worry if I will have enough money to get my family by.” The problem for this resident is that taking care of a family makes it even harder. Being a parent and a money-maker is a stressful situation.

Another anonymous resident said, “It will be harder to pay the bills, now I have to work more which gives me less time to myself. I already have two jobs so this just puts even more stress on me.” There is an obvious distaste on the prices going up, and not only that but there is a continuous fact that it will be harder now to afford lighting and heating.

With the obvious rise in gas prices it will make using a car more expensive, so not only affects people who have to drive to work it also affects students who have to walk to school. Especially when the snow starts to fall and walking becomes dangerous. So everyone is basically given two choices, walk in the cold and potentially get hurt, or drive to stay warm but have to pay for gas also have the potential of swerving because of the ice. This is going to be a tough winter.

The choices for many this winter in Passaic are going to be tough. People will be working harder and longer for getting less and we are all going to be a little colder this winter.