If you feel like your utility bills have been slowly creeping upwards, don't worry, you're not crazy, it's not just your imagination:

U.S. consumers faced the biggest jump in their energy bills in more than a decade last month, with costs soaring for electricity, natural gas and fuel oil as cooler weather approaches.

The price of electricity in October increased 6.5% from the same month a year ago while consumer expenses paid to utilities for gas went up 28%, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fuel oil rose 59%, and costs for propane, kerosene and firewood jumped by about 35%, the data show.

"Biggest surge in electricity costs since 2009." Remind me, was anything notable happening in the U.S. economy in 2009?

With gas prices and food prices also rising, many low-income families in the U.S. may very well be facing the brutal choice this winter of whether to give up food, fuel, or heat.