Heating prices are soaring. Time to turn down the furnace and grab a sweater.

This winter, it’s about to get a lot more expensive for most Americans to heat their homes. The price of natural gas, which heats about half of all U.S. homes, has nearly doubled in the past year. And households that heat with propane could spend up to 94 percent more on their energy bills than they did a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

American consumers must cope with this price shock at the exact moment we are already reeling from the largest consumer price increase in 30 years.

Unfortunately, there’s not much anyone can do about this in the short term.

Recently, the Biden administration authorized an early release of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which received $4.5 billion in the American Rescue Plan Act. This money helps the most vulnerable pay their heating bills. States may also utilize some LIHEAP funding for weatherization, a longer-term strategy for reducing energy costs.

However, releasing LIHEAP funding is still likely to leave many households without adequate support. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association already anticipates needing an additional $5 billion to support the projected 9.4 million households that will seek heating bill assistance this winter. LIHEAP funds also won’t help Americans who live just above the income threshold for this assistance. Releasing more fossil fuels from strategic reserves to drive down prices is similarly a short-term measure, and one that will only make climate change worse in the longer term.

There is a good longterm fix: Converting to clean energy will both protect American households from price instability and help the planet.

Unfortunately, taking a slow-andsteady approach during an energy crisis is often a tough sell. Just ask former president Jimmy Carter.