U.S. heating oil averaged about $5.91 a gallon as of Nov. 9, up roughly $2.19, or 59%, from a year earlier, according to Energy Information Administration figures cited by CNBC¹.

In Maine, where about half of homes rely mainly on heating oil, the average was about $5.83 a gallon, up about $2.49, or 75%, from a year earlier¹. Jason Parent, chief executive of AVEC Community Action in Presque Isle, Maine, told CNBC the increase "is crushing folks" already strained by living costs¹.

About 4.1 million U.S. households use heating oil as their primary heat, and nearly 3.4 million of them are in the Northeast, CNBC reported, citing the EIA¹. Unlike gas or electricity billed monthly, heating oil is often delivered in bulk; Maine's attorney general's office says ordering at least 100 gallons for a standard 275-gallon tank can avoid a surcharge, which at current prices would cost about $600¹.

The EIA in October forecast that the average household using heating oil will spend $2,115 from November through March, about 21% more than last year, CNBC reported¹. The agency also predicted a warmer Northeast winter would cut consumption and partly offset higher prices¹. Homes heated mainly with natural gas were forecast to spend $640 this winter, down 9%; propane $1,246, down 3%; and electricity $1,196, up 4%¹.

CNBC cited Kansas City Fed research attributing the refined-fuel squeeze to supply shocks tied to the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war, low inventories and limited refining capacity¹.

AVEC's Home Energy Assistance Program, funded through federal LIHEAP, has an average benefit of about $750 this season, up from about $550 last year, Parent said, but that credit buys fewer gallons of oil¹. He said AVEC's emergency fuel line drew 150 voicemails in the first hour after it opened Nov. 2¹.

Maine and tribal grantees received about $38 million from LIHEAP in October, according to a statement from Sen. Susan Collins cited by CNBC; AVEC administers about $4 million of that, Parent said¹.

The Energy Department said Nov. 4 it would release 300,000 barrels of heating oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve¹. University of Maine economist Jonathan Rubin told CNBC the effect depends on whether distributors sell the oil in one month or over the season, describing it as a modest short-term buffer¹.

Dozens of House lawmakers, mostly Democrats, signed an Oct. 14 letter seeking $3 billion more in emergency LIHEAP funding, following an Oct. 1 request from Democratic senators and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.¹. The government released about $3.63 billion nationwide on Oct. 9, 90% of about $4 billion available under a continuing resolution; the rest depends on further appropriations before a Dec. 11 funding deadline¹.

Catherine Lafleche, 65, of Hersey, Maine, told CNBC a charitable 100-gallon delivery after her tank ran dry in October should last into early December while she awaits HEAP approval¹.