Despite a long stretch of unusually warm weather, the prices of heating oil and kerosene are going through the roof.
Both commodities cost 44 percent more on Monday than they did a year ago.
No. 2 rose 6 cents since last Wednesday, retailing at $2.56 per gallon, according to a statewide survey conducted by Maine’s Office of Energy Independence and Security. That’s 78 cents more than the fuel cost last year at this time.
Someone who burns 1,000 gallons annually will pay $780 more this year to keep warm than they did last year. Nearly 80 percent of the state’s homes are heated with No. 2.
Kerosene is more costly yet. The statewide average Monday hit $2.97 per gallon, up 16 cents in five days and 91 cents a gallon higher than this week last year.
In northern Maine, kerosene was going for $3.02 per gallon.
Only propane among the major fuels was unchanged in the five days since the last survey. The gas is averaging $2.18 per gallon when purchased in bulk for home heating applications. That’s 41 cents higher than propane cost last year.
The price increases come at a time when heating oil stocks in New England are 53.5 percent higher than the five-year average, the state agency said. They also come at a time when demand is unusually low as a result of continuing warm weather.
However, the agency also said more than 700,000 barrels a day of refinery production remain off-line in the Gulf Coast region as a result of damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“It is still unclear whether these refineries will be back in service to produce distillate products for the winter, but it is likely that in the near term some of that volume will be replaced by imports and higher flows from other, unaffected refiners,” the office said in a statement accompanying release of its weekly survey figures.
The state is urging people to use the next two months to prepare for winter by buttoning up their homes. Added insulation, new windows, weather stripping and other measures can significantly reduce energy use and thus associated costs.
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