State Planning Office Sees `expensive winter’

AUGUSTA — The State Planning Office reported Monday that although home heating-oil prices in Maine had declined slightly, they still remained high. And officials advised consumers to prepare for “a potentially expensive winter.”

“It’s kind of a situation where we have to hope for the best, but plan for the worst,” said John Flumerfelt, director of energy policy and planning at the State Planning Office.

Flumerfelt said if the standoff in the Middle East remained the way it has been since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, then oil and gasoline prices were likely to remain high. A resolution to the crisis could bring a dramatic improvement in prices, he said.

The planning office said heating-oil prices in Maine averaged 98 cents per gallon on Monday, a slight drop from last week’s statewide average of $1 per gallon. Prices in southern Maine averaged 96 cents a gallon, while those in northern Maine averaged 99 cents a gallon, the planning office said.

The office recommended that consumers take steps to reduce their use of heating oil this winter, among them adding weatherstripping and insulation to their homes and making sure that heating equipment was in proper working order.

The office also urged people planning to bring dormant woodstoves back to life to pay special attention to fire safety, maintaining proper clearances and keeping chimneys clean. The office also advised against burning unseasoned wood.

“Consumers are also strongly encouraged to reduce electrical and transportation energy consumption as much as is practicable,” the office said. “Overall reduction in statewide and nationwide energy consumption continues to be the single most effective hedge against an uncertain energy future.”