Heating bills are going up this winter

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report

Episode: Heating bills are going up this winter
Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Nova Safo (for David Brancaccio)
Duration: ~10 minutes

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Overview

This episode spotlights two key topics:

1. Rising Heating Costs: Explores why heating bills are surging this winter, with insights from experts and a focus on how low- and middle-income households are coping.
2. IRS Challenges: Discusses the IRS’s reduced workforce and what it means for taxpayers this filing season, along with the impact on enforcement and support.

The episode concludes with a brief tech-business update regarding Amazon Ring and a teaser for the affiliated podcast, “This Is Uncomfortable.”

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Segment 1: Heating Bills Are Going Up This Winter

[00:59 – 03:19]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Nationwide Inflation Context:
  January's Consumer Price Index showed inflation cooling, with a 2.4% annual gain—lower than predicted—but utilities are an exception, rising faster than the average.

• Higher Heating Costs:
  The National Energy Assistance Directors Association forecasts average winter heating costs at about $1,000—significantly higher than last year.

• Role of Extreme Weather:

  • “It has been absolutely frigid in much of the country this winter, including in places that are not used to it.” (Samantha Fields, 01:34)
  • Even southern states, like Florida, saw freezing temperatures.

• Impact on Low- and Middle-Income Households:

  • Katrina Metzler emphasizes the unique struggle for low-income families:
    • “Those types of conditions make a difference in people’s bills and their ability to pay those bills.” (Katrina Metzler, 01:44)
    • “I consider myself a middle income household and I’ve struggled this winter in Virginia with paying my utility bills.” (Katrina Metzler, 02:04)
  • About one in six U.S. households is behind on utility bills.

• Utility Monopolies & Lack of Alternatives:

  • Mark Wolf from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association:
    • “You can’t say, gee, I’ll go down the street and buy a different brand of electricity.” (Mark Wolf, 02:35)
    • Energy isn’t like groceries; there’s little consumer choice.

• Structural Pressures on Utility Costs:

  • Higher infrastructure demands from new data centers, long-delayed upgrades, and elevated natural gas prices will likely continue driving up costs:
    • “We have to catch up… put all that together… the cost of electricity and heat is likely to keep rising.” (Mark Wolf, 02:47)

Notable Quotes

• “Lots of low income households struggle to afford heat every year, but this winter is worse, both because of the weather and because electricity and natural gas prices are higher.”
  — Katrina Metzler, National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition [01:50]

• “It’s like everything is going wrong. You have higher prices, colder winter, and people need to buy more of an expensive product.”
  — Mark Wolf, National Energy Assistance Directors Association [02:23]

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Segment 2: IRS Workforce Strains and Tax Season Complications

[04:53 – 07:56]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• IRS Staffing Crisis:
  The agency lost over a quarter of its workforce and 75% of senior leadership in the past year, compounding difficulties created by the recent government shutdown and new, complex tax regulations.

• Delayed Hiring & Undertraining:

  • The IRS was slow to bring on new hires; only 2% of needed positions for certain roles were filled.
  • Many current employees are undertrained and people from across departments are being shifted onto the front lines, especially for telephone support.

• Impacts for Tax Filers:

  • Straightforward virtual filers will likely fare fine.
  • Those with more complex returns—such as claims involving new provisions (tips exemption, overtime, car loan benefits)—could face guidance shortfalls and long hold times:
    • “There isn’t wonderful guidance about it... if you want to try and call the IRS for help, you’ll probably be on hold for quite a while.” (Vanessa Williamson, 06:48)

• Weaker Tax Enforcement:

  • Significant reductions in enforcement staff, especially those focused on high earners:
    • “We have lost a huge amount of our enforcement staff... that’s where most of the tax gap is. That’s where most of the underreporting is.” (Vanessa Williamson, 07:03)
  • Could lead to long-term revenue losses.

• Future Recovery Needs:

  • Vanessa Williamson calls for “massive restaffing,” renewed focus on hiring skilled workers (both for ordinary taxpayers and high-wealth enforcement), and modernized technology to restore capacity.

Notable Quotes

• “It definitely means the current set of employees are under trained... shifting people from all over the agency to frontline phone service to try and fill in the gaps. But it's problematic, to say the least.”
  — Vanessa Williamson, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center [05:51, 06:04]

• “If you want to try and call the IRS for help, you’ll probably be on hold for quite a while.”
  — Vanessa Williamson [06:48]

• “We’re going to have to do a massive restaffing of this agency. [...] We lost a ton of IT people this year and you know, this was just a huge setback for an agency that had actually been on an upswing for several years.”
  — Vanessa Williamson [07:30]

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Segment 3: Tech Business Brief – Amazon Ring Update

[07:59 – 08:38]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Amazon Ring & Flock Safety:
  • Amazon-owned Ring ended its partnership with Flock Safety (a police surveillance tech firm) following public backlash against a Super Bowl ad, which many saw as invasive rather than heartwarming.
  • The ad showed Ring cameras tracking a lost dog, raising privacy concerns.

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Segment 4: Additional Programming Teaser

[08:38 – 09:10]

• ‘This Is Uncomfortable’ Podcast:
  • Upcoming episode featuring Sam Sanders, addressing love, money, and tricky family financial situations.
  • Memorable advice:
    “When you are experiencing an adult in your life who is acting like a child, that is the time at which you most need to be an adult.”
    — Sam Sanders [08:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Heating Bills Discussion: 00:59 – 03:19
• IRS Workforce & Tax Season: 04:53 – 07:56
• Amazon Ring and Flock Safety News: 07:59 – 08:38
• ‘This Is Uncomfortable’ Teaser: 08:38 – 09:10

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Tone

The episode maintains a pragmatic, clear-eyed tone. Experts and reporters speak compassionately about the struggles facing households due to rising utility costs, and lay out IRS challenges in frank, accessible language. Soundbites are direct and occasionally wry, particularly around the realities facing both taxpayers and the agencies meant to serve them.

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Transcript

[Marketplace Host]

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[Nova Safo]

Heating bills are going up this Winter For Marketplace, I'm Nova Safo in for David Brancaccio. We got some good news on the inflation front on Friday cooled in January, according to the Consumer Price Index, which registered a 2.4% annual gain lower than expected. But certain prices are still rising faster than the overall measure, including utilities. The National Energy Assistance Directors association forecasts heating costs will average about $1,000 this winter, up significantly from last year. Marketplace's Samantha Fields has more.

[Samantha Fields]

It has been absolutely frigid in much of the country this winter, including in places that are not used to it.

[Katrina Metzler]

We had freezing temperatures all the way into southern Florida this winter. Those types of conditions make a difference in people's bills and their ability to pay those bills.

[Samantha Fields]

Katrina Metzler at the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition says lots of low income households struggle to afford heat every year, but this winter is worse, both because of the weather and because electricity and natural gas prices are higher.

[Katrina Metzler]

I consider myself a middle income household and I've struggled this winter in Virginia with paying my utility bills. I've seen those same price increases that everyone has seen.

[Samantha Fields]

About one in six households is currently behind on their utility bills, says Mark Wolf at the National Energy Assistance Director Directors Association.

[Mark Wolf]

It's like everything is going wrong. You have higher prices, colder winter, and people need to buy more of an expensive product.

[Samantha Fields]

And when utility bills go up, he says, people are just stuck with electricity, for example.

[Mark Wolf]

You can't say, gee, I'll go down the street and buy a different brand of electricity.

[Samantha Fields]

You can't shop around like you can with groceries. And Wolf says the reality is this is not just a this winter problem.

[Mark Wolf]

The cost of natural gas has gone up, lots of new data centers is putting pressure on the grid, and utilities have to upgrade the grid. They've delayed this for a number of years. We have to catch up, put all.

[Samantha Fields]

That together, he says, and the cost of electricity and heat is likely to keep rising. I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace.

[Vanessa Williamson]

Foreign.

[Marketplace Host]

This Marketplace podcast is supported by Wealth Enhancement, who understand that dreams don't happen by chance. It takes a plan. They're ready to build your wealth. Blueprint for retirement investing taxes and everything else your financial life brings. It reveals gaps and highlights opportunities you may have missed and at no cost to you. Find out [e-mail] Blueprint.

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[Nova Safo]

Well, this tax filing season, the IRS is operating with fewer staff. It lost a quarter of its workforce last year. So is the agency ready to process all the returns headed its way? Marketplace's Sabri Benishour checked in with Vanessa Williamson, senior fellow at the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center.

[Sabri Benishour]

Not only are more than a quarter of the IRS staff gone, but also a lot of things in the tax code are changing. So is the IRS ready for all that?

[Vanessa Williamson]

I think there are a lot of reasons for concern. It also lost three quarters of its senior leadership and the government shutdown for the longest shutdown in our history. All of these things are real problems on their own. Plus a complicated new tax law.

[Sabri Benishour]

Also a question of training. The IRS was slow to process new hires for the season, I understand. Why is that? And does that mean that the current set of employees might be under trained?

[Vanessa Williamson]

It definitely means the current set of employees are under trained. The IRS lost a lot of really key positions, internal positions that help manage things like hiring. The agency ended up hugely short staffed and only managed to hire 2% of the positions it was supposed to hire for a few key positions. And now they are shifting people from all over the agency to frontline phone service to try and fill in the gaps. But it's problematic, to say the least.

[Sabri Benishour]

For all of us filing taxes, what's it going to look like if you.

[Vanessa Williamson]

Have a pretty simple tax situation, if you file virtually and if you don't make a mistake, you're probably okay. But there are a couple of groups of people who should expect problems. First of all, if you're going to try and figure out how to get one of these shiny new objects in the tax code, things like no tax on tips or the overtime provision or the car loan provision, those are complicated. There isn't wonderful guidance about it. There's real legalese guidance. And so figuring out all that extra paperwork, if you want to try and call the IRS for help, you'll probably be on hold for quite a while.

[Sabri Benishour]

Will the IRS be as able to catch people who are trying to get out of paying their taxes?

[Vanessa Williamson]

We have lost a huge amount of our enforcement staff and one of the really serious aspects of that is we've lost a lot of the new folks who came in specifically to focus on the highest earners and high wealth people. And that's where most of the tax gap is. That's where most of the underreporting is. So yeah, I think we're going to see revenue effects in the long term.

[Sabri Benishour]

Any thoughts on how the IRS could make tax season run more smoothly in the future?

[Vanessa Williamson]

We're going to have to do a massive restaffing of this agency. We're going to have to refocus on bringing in highly trained people who can do tax enforcement not just for regular people but for people at the top. We'll need to reinvest in our technology. We lost a ton of IT people this year and you know, this was just a huge setback for an agency that had actually been on an upswing for several years.

[Sabri Benishour]

Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, thank you so much for joining us.

[Vanessa Williamson]

Oh, I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

[Nova Safo]

Sabri Bennisher with that interview. Over the weekend, Amazon owned Ring ended a partnership with a police surveillance technology company called Flock Safety. That follows backlash over Ring's super bowl ad depicting a feature that can track a last a lost dog using doorbell cameras. Lots of people found the whole thing less heartwarming and more invasive. Ring did not mention the ad when announcing its decision. I'm Nova Savo with the Marketplace Morning Report. From APM American Public Media.

[Rima Reis]

Hey everyone, I'm Rima Reis, and this week on this is Uncomfortable, I'm joined by my fellow podcaster Sam Sanders for a special Love Advice episode. We tackle listener questions about money and relationships, everything from secret investment accounts to parents making risky financial choices.

[Sam Sanders]

I have told people all the time, when you are experiencing an adult in your life who is acting like a child, that is the time at which you most need to be an adult.

[Rima Reis]

Listen to this Is Uncomfortable on your favorite podcast.

[Vanessa Williamson]

Apparently.