Business in brief AUGUSTA: HEATING OIL HITS RECORD HIGH

Maine’s average heating oil price has hit the highest level on record with the first snowfall still months away, officials said Monday. The Office of Energy Independence and Security found the current statewide average cash price to be $2.54 per gallon. That’s 94 cents – 60 percent – higher than the same figure this time last year, said Beth Nagusky, director of the office.The figure represented the highest statewide average cash price for heating oil unadjusted for inflation, Nagusky said. The survey found that prices ranged from a low of $2.29 per gallon in central Maine to a high of $2.72 in northern Maine. As for kerosene, the average price of $2.83 per gallon was 98 cents higher than last year at this time, Nagusky said.