The pain of higher energy costs won't be going away soon, with oil prices expected to average above $100 a barrel next year, the federal Energy Department said Tuesday.

  Buy a link hereThe assessment came as the price of crude hit a record $122 a barrel in New York, and analysts for the investment bank Goldman Sachs released a forecast that oil prices could surge another 60% or more between now and 2010.

  Crude oil prices have risen sharply in recent months amid concerns about the value of the U.S. dollar. Prices also have been driven up by worries that oil suppliers will be unable to meet growing demand from economic expansion in China and India.

  The Energy Department's statistical arm, which has often been conservative in prior forecasts of energy cost spikes, on Tuesday predicted oil would average nearly $110 a barrel in 2008 and $103 a barrel next year.

  "Non-OPEC supply is struggling to grow, with notable declines . . . in Mexico and Russia showing signs of rolling over following an extended period of rapid growth," the Goldman analysts said, according to Bloomberg.

  Meanwhile, in its last monthly energy outlook before the Memorial Day weekend start of the summer driving season, the statistical arm of the Energy Department is forecasting prices at the pump to average $3.36 per gallon this year, with regular unleaded gasoline forecast to cost $3.66 a gallon, on average, during the summer driving season, or about 25% higher than last year.

  In Milwaukee, the average price of regular unleaded stood at just under $3.72 a gallon, AAA said Tuesday. That's nearly 5 cents below the record price set last week, the auto club said.But gasoline prices aren't the only energy prices causing pain. Natural gas prices on the spot market are forecast to be up by 35% over 2007 prices.

  That higher cost helped push up home heating costs during the end of the winter heating season and will make it more costly to run power plants that are fueled with natural gas, such as the We Energies power plant in Port Washington. The second Port Washington power plant begins generating power this summer.

  The Milwaukee utility recently raised electric rates to recover higher fuel costs, as well as the rising price of diesel fuel. The utility faces diesel surcharges from railroads that ship coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin to its fleet of coal-fired power plants.That increase raised the typical customer's bill by 2.6%, or $2.24 a month. The typical customer now pays more than $88 a month after seeing a $4 jump from the increase that went into effect in January.