Heating costs exceed families’ means as households seek alternatives

On September 13, Syrians woke to news that the transitional government had sharply raised fuel prices. The price of diesel rose from 12,500 Syrian pounds (125 new Syrian pounds) to 17,500 pounds per liter. Prices of other petroleum products, including gasoline and gas, also increased.

The price hikes came amid declining purchasing power and stagnant incomes for many households. The increases also drove up the prices of basic commodities, forcing families to cut essential spending.

As temperatures fall and winter approaches, families have begun looking for alternative heating methods. However, the cost of these alternatives has also risen following the fuel price increases. A ton of firewood now costs between $250 and $350 in the Jazira region, compared with around $100 in previous years, when residents relied less on firewood because diesel was available at subsidized prices.

Before each winter, the Autonomous Administration used to distribute 300 liters of diesel to each family at a price of 1,100 pounds per liter. It also supplied agricultural diesel at around 25 cents per liter, while diesel for transport vehicles cost 525 pounds per liter and gasoline 450 pounds per liter.

The transitional government's fuel price increases, accompanied by rising prices of other goods, including firewood, have come as residents' purchasing power continues to decline. Some families earn no more than 1.2 million pounds a month, making heating costs a direct competitor to food, medicine and other basic necessities.

Residents say that stagnant incomes and rising living and heating costs have forced some families to cut essential spending, while others have begun searching for cheaper alternatives. These include collecting firewood, crop residues and animal manure, as well as burning old clothes and cardboard for fuel.

Income Insufficient to Cover Heating Costs

In this context, Haji Iyadah Abdo, a retired employee from the city of Jal Agha in the Jazira region, said heating costs were rising alongside the prices of food, medicine and everyday necessities, placing a heavier burden on families dependent on fixed incomes.

He explained that his monthly pension amounted to 1.2 million pounds and that his family had no other source of income, leaving him unable to set aside money to buy diesel or firewood.

Abdo added that, unable to afford heating supplies, he currently had nothing but blankets to rely on to keep himself and his children warm during the winter.

Cotton Harvest Residues: Last Resort for Families

As firewood and diesel prices rise, some families are turning to residues from the cotton harvest. They are waiting for the season to end so they can collect whatever branches and remnants remain and use them for heating.

Dora Sayid Ali said her family's living and economic conditions had become extremely difficult. Her retired husband's income of 1.2 million Syrian pounds a month was insufficient to cover the family's needs for more than half a month amid rising prices, she explained.

She said the family had no heating equipment and was waiting for the cotton harvest to end so they could collect its residues. They could not afford a barrel of diesel costing 3.5 million pounds or firewood priced at up to $350 per ton.

Ali stressed that cotton wood was the family's only available means of keeping its children warm, adding that they would collect and store it in preparation for winter.

Old Clothes and Animal Manure as Heating Alternatives

The difficulty of affording diesel and firewood is pushing some families to consider even more desperate alternatives, including burning old clothes and collecting animal manure to use as fuel.

Hussein Rahil said his family could not afford diesel at current prices and was also unable to pay for a ton of firewood, which costs between $250 and $350. He explained that their financial circumstances would force them to burn old clothes and collect animal manure for heating.

Winter Adds to Families’ Burdens

Residents believe rising heating costs are worsening families' already difficult circumstances, leaving them facing a difficult choice between meeting basic needs and securing heating during the cold months.

Rahil noted that continued increases in fuel and firewood prices would double families' suffering during winter, particularly as their incomes were insufficient even to cover basic necessities.

He called for heating diesel to be made available at prices commensurate with household incomes, urging the transitional government, which has taken over management of the fuel sector in the Jazira region, to provide residents with heating supplies, as the Autonomous Administration had done in previous years.

a.k

ANHA