80% of homes are heated by oil? Wow. Maybe some incentives (tax break?) for converting to natural gas or propane are in the offing.
Propane is about $2.70/g right now. Winter rates depend on supplier and amount consumed, but range from (AFAIK) about $2.50 under a cap/keep full for 975—1200 gallons/year to (I have heard) $3/gal for lesser amounts, no cap.
For the first time in over 33 years, we are still paying off last winter's propane bill. Usually, we have it paid in April and are accumulating cash credits by now. We will have it paid off in August.
Oil was the major fuel here up until the 1970s, when it went up in price and folks converted to propane or electricity. When oil went down, the electric rates didn't and people who had converted were paying huge bills and mostly went to propane. Electric bills will increase this year because of all the constraints on coal use and also of rail transport.
I wonder if this is going to be serious enough this winter to turn purple states like WI red? We not only need gasoline to get to work, it is what powers the road snow removal and the home snowblowers/trucks w/blades.
In town, there are people who rail against wood storage in one's yard, which is all people have if they have no basement, and others who are terrified of air pollution from wood heat. NG and electricity are supplied by a large producer located 90 miles away and rates are high, sometimes around $500/month for gas/electric in older, larger homes, more commonly around $100/mo. Taxes and utility fees (water/sewage) are also higher and privacy is nonexistent.
None of us could afford a move to a larger city. Rents/home prices/taxes/fees/loss of independence/nanny state laws forbidding everything from greenhouses to smoking to working on projects in the yard or driveway or to doing your own home maintenance make it a moot choice with little energy savings except perhaps gasoline.
People have lived in my house or on this property since the 1880s.There was no plumbing until 1967. They survived. It is probably the same in Maine. But, there is a lot of high anxiety about surviving this next winter.