RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Heating oil prices are about to make heating bills skyrocket for homeowners this winter. Diesel prices are still lingering near their record-high numbers, averaging $6.24 per gallon on Tuesday, up 73% from last year. Diesel and heating oil are chemically almost identical, s o a price increase for diesel means the same for heating oil. “Diesel price goes up, so does heating oil price," said Vinod Agarwal, Professor of Economics at Old Dominion University. "If diesel prices stay high, you can expect heating oil bills to go up like crazy this winter." According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Winter Fuels Outlook, there is an expected 34% increase in heating oil prices. The number of families using heating oil in Richmond is declining, according to price comparison tool Heat Fleet, but over 6,500 families still rely on it. Both the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S. war in Iran are to blame for the soaring numbers. “If we could end the war today, we could get rid of these problems tomorrow," Agarwal said. Agarwal also noted that with a disrupted supply of commodities like diesel, the economy may be significantly impacted, keeping inflation rates high. The EIA expects temperatures in the South to be similar to those last year, and temperatures in the Northeast to be slightly warmer, hopefully alleviating those heating costs. ...read more read less