Maine heating oil and propane prices per gallon this week

A long season, measured

Maine's normal January brings 1,486 heating degree days and its normal March 1,104, more than a January in Maryland. October and April count 575 and 703, so the heating season spills well beyond the five winter months the EIA uses. A Maine household that fills its tank in October and again in April is not being careless: the shoulder months alone can burn a delivery.

Where Maine sits in the price table

This week Maine ranks 13th of 21 states for heating oil, $0.164 below the national average. The wholesale price the EIA reports for Maine, $5.304, leaves a dealer spread of $0.722. Compared with its neighbor, Maine's average is $0.007 below New Hampshire's this week.

For propane, Maine ranks 11th of 38. Its highest propane week since 2013 was $3.737, on March 28, 2022.

Wood, oil and the budget

Maine also counts 59,610 homes heated mainly with wood, a larger share than any other surveyed state but Vermont. Many oil households burn some wood too, which lowers their gallons: if that is your case, enter your own gallons from last winter in the winter budget rather than the average. Households under the federal income ceiling, $49,784 a year for two people in Maine, can apply for heating help through the LIHEAP program.

Planning deliveries through a Maine winter

A 275-gallon tank, the most common size in older houses, holds less than the average Maine home burns in January and February together. At 1,486 degree days in January, the average oil home would use roughly 138 gallons that month alone by the same scaling. Households on will-call delivery therefore order several times a season, and each order is priced at the week it is placed. The tank fill calculator gives the cost of the next delivery at this week's Maine price, and the lock-in check replays past winters against a fixed price offered by a dealer.