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Maine heating oil cost: pricing winter one tank at a time
In Maine, winter arrives by truck. Residential heating oil averaged $6.026 per gallon in EIA's survey week of October 19, 2026 — fractionally below the $6.190 U.S. survey average, which is no comfort at Maine volumes: a standard 275-gallon tank fill at that price costs $1,657.15, and oil-heated homes nationally are forecast by EIA to spend $2,115 this winter, up 21%. Maine's alternatives price high as well: propane at $3.709 a gallon, delivered gas at $18.95 per Mcf where pipelines reach, and electricity at 24.29¢ per kWh in 2024, with a July 2026 snapshot of 32.41¢.
| Maine heating at a glance | Figure (with source period) |
|---|---|
| Heating oil, residential | $6.026 per gallon (week of Oct 19, 2026) — U.S. $6.190 |
| A 275-gallon fill at that price | $1,657.15 (arithmetic on the published price) |
| A 500-gallon season illustration | $3,013.00 (arithmetic on the published price) |
| Propane, residential | $3.709 per gallon (week of Oct 19, 2026) — U.S. $2.689 |
| New England regional averages | Oil $6.112 per gallon; propane $3.872 per gallon (same week) |
| Electricity | 24.29¢ per kWh (2024); 550 kWh/month; $133.60 avg bill; July 2026 snapshot 32.41¢ |
| Natural gas, delivered | $18.95 per Mcf (2024) — U.S. average $14.50 |
Gallons of oil, gallons of propane, therms of gas and kWh of electricity — price a Maine winter month in every fuel at the published averages.
Open the energy cost calculatorWhy volume, not price, is Maine's problem
Maine's oil price is unremarkable — mid-table among the 21 surveyed states, below New York's $6.417 and Delaware's $6.431. Its exposure is consumption. RECS measured fuel-oil and kerosene households nationally at 69.7 MMBtu of that fuel per household in 2020, the heaviest per-household load of any fuel in the survey, and New England oil households higher still, at 82.7 MMBtu. Converted at EIA's heat content of 138,500 Btu per gallon, 82.7 MMBtu is roughly 597 gallons across a year — arithmetic on published figures, offered to size the exposure, not as a Maine consumption statistic, which EIA does not publish in that table. At October's $6.026 survey price, 597 gallons is about $3,600 of oil before any burner servicing, delivery terms or price movement through the season. That arithmetic is why a state can sit below the national average price and still treat heating as its largest household energy event, and why our New England guide records the region's households spending $2,539 a year on energy, the most in the country.
How the survey works — and what it cannot tell you
EIA collects residential heating-oil prices weekly from October through March only, in the states where oil heat is concentrated, and publishes no weekly price outside the heating season and no average at all for the 29 unsurveyed states. Three limits follow for a Maine reader. First, the price on your delivery day is your supplier's price that week, not the state average — the survey figure is the benchmark for judging whether a quote is in line, which is the use this site recommends throughout. Second, the published price excludes taxes and says nothing about the costs that ride with oil heat but appear in no EIA table: burner servicing, tank maintenance, and any difference between automatic-delivery and will-call pricing, all set supplier by supplier. Third, a winter's cost is a path, not a point: EIA's own Winter Fuels Outlook forecasts the season's average oil price at $5.26 a gallon, easing from $5.79 in November toward $4.84 in March, so a household filling early, late, or on a supplier's price plan will realise a different average from a neighbour on the same street.
This winter's forecast, in Maine's fuel mix
The 2026–27 Winter Fuels Outlook is unusually pointed for oil households: EIA forecasts the average oil-heated U.S. home to spend $2,115 from November through March, up 21% on last winter, because a forecast 34% rise in oil prices outweighs warmer forecast Northeast weather — and oil heat is concentrated in the Northeast, Maine above all. The region's other fuels move the other way in the same outlook: Northeast households heating with propane are forecast at $1,687 (down 15%), with natural gas at $879 (down 14%) and with electricity at $1,637 (down 3%). Maine households choosing or switching fuels should read those as national and regional season averages for a home's main heating fuel, not as quotes — equipment and installation prices are figures EIA does not publish and this site does not estimate, as our heat-pump comparison states plainly. What the published record does support is the comparison of the fuel side alone, and on the fuel side this winter, oil is the exposed position in Maine.
Sources: EIA — Heating Oil and Propane Update (week of October 19, 2026) · EIA — Winter Fuels Outlook, October 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook (published October 6, 2026) · EIA — Electric Sales, Revenue & Average Price 2024, Table 5A (Form EIA-861) · EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026) · EIA — Natural Gas Annual 2024, Table 23 (Form EIA-176) · EIA — RECS 2020, Table CE2.1 · EIA — Energy Explained: British thermal units (conversion factors). Last verified: October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current rate on your own bill.
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Maine energy costs (state guide) · Heating oil prices by state · New England energy costs · Winter heating costs 2026–27 · Heat pump vs gas furnace