We can add another item to the list of rising expenses right now. The energy department is predicting home heating costs will rise dramatically this winter families that use fuel oil will be hardest hit during the October to April heating season, they're expected to spend more than 23-hundred dollars on average.. that's 4-50 more than last year. Households that heat with natural gas will probably spend 155 dollars more than last year.. Up to a thousand dollars for the season. The cost of electricity and propane is also expected to rise ten to eleven percent.