Pay your heating bill or have sex to stay warm?
Faced with soaring utility costs, some folks are choosing the latter. That’s according to a new report from NewHomesMate, a marketplace for new construction homes.
It found that 46% of the 1,000 Americans surveyed are struggling to afford their bills. Roughly 25% pile on extra clothing, while 35% are forced to choose between heat and groceries. To keep themselves toasty, 5% are getting hot and heavy between the sheets — and 2% are getting drunk, according to the report.
In more of a long-term fix, 60% of homeowners in the report installed energy-saving improvements to their homes, with 16% replacing their windows and 22% switching to smart thermostats.
Though electricity costs dropped more than 20% in 2023, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, they’re still up 29% from January 2020. Northeastern households that use natural gas were expected to spend about $760 on heat this winter, according to the US Energy Information Center. That estimation rose to $1,700 for propane, $1,460 for electric heat and $1,850 for oil.
