To keep your utility bill affordable, give the nation's new energy policy another look and otherwise take steps now to make your home as energy efficient as possible.

Hot on the heels of this summer's record level oil and gasoline prices, winter heating costs could put the freeze on your disposable income.

With a barrel of crude up to a record $67 and change -- $20 more than a year ago -- the U.S. Department of Energy is forecasting home heating oil costs this winter to be 16 percent higher than last winter, double the price of four years ago.

Suppliers say heating oil consumers are mistakenly not filling their tanks now -- with fuel likely to be cheaper than it will be when demand peaks as the temperatures cool. The practice also could diminish distillers' storage space and generate a backlog of orders when demand peaks.

Utilities are already passing higher natural gas costs onto consumers in many of the 66 million households where gas fires the furnace. By January, gas is expected to cost 30 percent more than it did a year ago, according to DOE.

Driven by the price of gas and oil, coal prices are up too, further exacerbated by its own shortages.

To help drive down the cost of heating and energy there are a host of steps you can take to batten the hatches against the summer heat and prepare for the winter winds that will put pressure on your utility bill's bottom line.

The new "Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT)", which establishes the nation's energy policy for the foreseeable future, comes with a host of incentives to make energy conservation more than just changing your energy consumption habits.

• Tax credits topping out at $500 in 2006 and 2007 are available for money spent to upgrade heating and air conditioning systems, insulation, tighter windows and doors and thermostats, caulk leaks, install pigmented metal roofs and otherwise put the bite on energy waste.

• Homeowners who install solar energy systems can claim a tax credit of up to $2,000 for hot water and power generating systems not used to heat swimming pools or hot tubs. Smaller credits are available for fuel cell and photovoltaic power sources.

• Entrepreneurial consumers can also claim a 30 percent credit for the cost of installing clean-fuel vehicle refueling property used in a trade or business of the consumer or installed at the principal residence of the taxpayer.

Beyond EPACT, check with your local power utility for energy audit inspections, assistance and, in some cases, rebates on Energy Star and other energy-efficient or energy-saving devices as well as discounts for efforts you take that reduce your energy consumption.

Power utility companies also offer ideas that can help you save cash you'll be strapped for as costs rise. The ideas include insulating, caulking, weather-stripping and other low-cost measures.

But don't overlook major energy-efficient home improvements that could increase your home's value and help you quality for an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM).

A professional Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Checkup from the Department of Energy's Energy Star program is available from a certified Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) provider, where you can obtain additional information.

A variety of home energy audit tools are also available online to help you examine your energy use and pinpoint areas that need tightening.

They include:

• Energy Star's "Home Energy Analysis"

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's "Home Energy Saver"

• Alliance To Save Energy's "Home Energy Checkup and Audit"

Published: August 24, 2005

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.