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Heating oil explained Use of heating oil

Heating oil is mainly used for space heating. Some homes and commercial buildings also use heating oil to heat water but in much smaller amounts than what they use for space heating. Because cold weather affects heating demand, most heating oil use occurs during the heating season—October through March.

Annual residential heating oil (distillate fuel) consumption peaked in the 1970s and has declined nearly every year since. Most new and replacement heating systems in homes use natural gas or electricity. Distillate fuel consumption by the commercial sector peaked in 1984 and has generally declined each year since then.

Who uses heating oil?

In the winter of 2023–2024, about 4.79 million households in the United States used heating oil (distillate fuel oil) as the primary heating fuel, and about 82% of those households were in the U.S. Northeast Census Region.1

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Detailed data on residential distillate fuel oil use for selected years are available in the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). The RECS 2020 has data in the Housing Characteristics and the Consumption and Expenditures data files.

The commercial sector uses distillate fuel oil directly in space and water heating equipment and in combined heat and power plants. Detailed data on distillate fuel oil use in commercial buildings for selected years are available in the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). The CBECS 2018 has data in the Buildings Characteristics and the Consumption and Expenditures data files.

1 U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, Winter Fuels Oulook, April 2024.

Last updated: June 13, 2024.