Heating fuel prices projected to keep going up
With the heating season just beginning, the latest statewide survey by the Governor’s Energy Office shows that current average heating fuel prices are 5% to 15% more expensive than they were for the 2017-18 heating season.
And that trend is likely to get worse, according to the 2018 Winter Fuels Outlook by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that forecasts heating oil prices will average $3.27 per gallon this heating season. “If prices rise to this level, and we have an ‘average’ winter here in Maine, consumers will be paying 26% more for heating oil this season than last,” the energy office stated in this week’s report.
The energy office reported that in the weekly heating fuel price survey conducted on Monday, the statewide average cash price for No. 2 heating oil was $2.99 per gallon, up 3 cents from last week and up 11 cents from the average $2.88 a gallon price recorded on Oct. 1. By comparison, the the average 2017-18 heating season price for No. 2 heating oil was $2.59 a gallon — making this week’s average price at 15.4% higher than last year’s average.
The average kerosene per-gallon price was $3.58, up 11.2% from the $3.22 average for the 2017-18 season. Propane was $2.84, up 5.2% from the $2.70 average for last year’s season, the office reported.
This week, within the energy office’s sample, the highest heating oil price found was $3.32 and the lowest heating oil price was $2.65.
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