: EIA expects a decline in this year’s U.S. natural-gas heating bills

The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday forecast that U.S. households that primarily use natural gas to heat their homes will likely spend less on heating this winter than last winter, given expectations for a year-on-year decline in natural-gas prices. The 46% of U.S. households that use natural gas as their main heating fuel will likely spend an average of $601 under the EIA’s base case weather scenario — 21% lower than last winter. The EIA said 2022 natural-gas prices averaged $6.42 in 2022, and it forecasts an average of $2.61 this year and $3.23 for 2024. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November natural gasNGX23 traded at $3.324 per million British thermal units, down 5.8 cents, or 1.7%, in Wednesday dealings.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.