Poll: Winter Heating Bills Top Worry for Massachusetts Voters

Massachusetts voters are are trying to determine how they will stay warm this winter amid rising costs.

“With National Grid’s higher winter electric rates expected to take effect soon in Massachusetts and Eversource’s CEO warning that New England may not have enough natural gas for the season, voters are deeply concerned about the costs they may incur to keep warm,” WCVB reported Monday.

A recent UMass Amherst/WCVB poll found 84 percent of voters are somewhat or very concerned about the increase in heating bills, while four percent were not concerned.

The findings came from 700 Massachusetts voters whose answers were collected from October 20 until October 26 with a margin of error at 4.3 percent.

Citizens overall in President Joe Biden’s (D) America are expected to suffer through the winter months due to heating and electric bills as prices continue to climb, Breitbart News reported in September.

Poll identifies winter heating costs as top concern among voters https://t.co/AJhwO9QgOy

— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) November 1, 2022

At the time, Mark Wolfe, who is the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, explained, “There is a lot of pain. This is the second year of high home heating prices. Across the board, low- and middle-income families are suffering.”

When it comes to their eating habits, nearly one in five Americans have skipped meals or skipped buying groceries as they shoulder the burden of inflation, per a recent survey.

In addition, half of American voters say the economy or inflation is their main concern as they look toward the upcoming midterm elections, a recent ABC/Ipsos poll found.

Meanwhile, the WCVB report said, “The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the state’s Department of Public Utilities has approved National Grid’s new electricity rates, which will take effect at 12 a.m. Tuesday.”

“Those rates are going to be 64% higher, on average, than they were last winter. National Grid said most of that increase is driven by electric supply rates,” the report noted.

Industry experts said last month Biden will have drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to a 40 year low by the close of October, Breitbart News reported at the time.

“The SPR contained about 638 million barrels of oil before Biden assumed office. But America’s oil reserve will be depleted 40 percent in just a few weeks at the current rate of release,” the outlet said.