This is my kind of winter: Another day with temperatures forecast to reach into the 60s.
Of course the current, glorious run of warm weather is just the cherry on top of an unseasonably mild winter season. That may be bad for business if you run a ski resort or drive a plow. But it’s good economic news for almost everyone else thanks to real savings on the cost of heating a home this season.
How good? It depends on how you count but the answer for an average household ranges anywhere from about $60 to a couple hundred of dollars. That’s not a lot of money in any individual pocket, but those savings across regions or the entire country add up.
Most people in the Northeast will use about 12 percent less fuel to heat their homes this winter, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration. Consumers who heat with electricity will reduce consumption by a bit less.
The big savers are people who heat with natural gas because they are using less fuel and prices have fallen since the previous winter. The average heating bill for natural gas customers in the Northeast is expected to be $868 this winter, compared with $1,045 the previous year. That’s the lowest cost by far for natural gas customers over the past five winters and a savings of nearly 17 percent compared with last winter’s bill, according to the federal estimates.
People who heat with oil are only saving a little bit of money this winter. On the other hand, they dodged a bullet because the price of oil went up sharply and their bill for the winter did not. The government projects actual savings of just $60. If consumers used the same amount of oil as they did last winter, they would have paid $336 more because of higher per-gallon prices.
One other important energy note this winter: The gap between the cost of heating with oil or gas is striking this winter. The average oil heating bill of $2,238 for this winter is $1,370 more than the average gas bill.
Gulfstream jet legal fight
The last thing a megamillionaire wants to hear is that he lost out on a big tax break for one of those fancy Gulfstream jets.
Paul Fireman argues that he ended up on the short end of that stick because his lawyers fell down on the job. The former Reebok International chief recently filed a legal malpractice lawsuit against his Boston tax attorneys at Goulston & Storrs.
The case in Suffolk Superior Court alleges Fireman and Willowbend Aviation LLC lost out on $4.6 million in potential tax savings because his lawyers gave him bad advice about depreciation rules.
Fireman, now a private equity investor and operator of a way-upscale golf course in New Jersey, paid $30.3 million for the Gulfstream 450 three years ago. He says he has spent even more on other advisers to clean up another Florida use-tax problem blamed on the law firm.
Fireman wants Goulston & Storrs to make him whole - and then some - over the tax beef. A woman from the law firm called back to say the firm doesn’t comment on outstanding litigation.
But no tax dispute will keep a Gulfstream on the ground. Public flight tracking records indicate Fireman’s jet flew Sunday from Palm Beach to La Romana International Airport, which happens to be near Casa de Campo, a swanky resort/golf course in the Dominican Republic. I’d call that market research.
The Red Herring
- M/A-Com Technology Solutions Holdings of Lowell could raise more than $100 million if the company goes public as scheduled this week. Shares of the semiconductor solutions company are expected to be priced Wednesday.
Steven Syre is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at syre@globe.com.