Despite the intensifying summer sun, some homeowners are already thinking about winter – specifically how to pay for heating oil when the snow flies again.

Talk of heating oil hitting $3 per gallon this winter has many homeowners enrolling in fixed-price plans this summer even though many of those programs are being offered at a wallet-walloping $2.70 a gallon or more.

Debbie Fournier, 36, and her husband of Bangor prepaid oil for the first time last year to eliminate fears she wouldn’t be able to afford the cash price during the winter.

As she neatly planted irises in the dirt in front of her home one day this week, the mother of two boys said she might have to dig into her garden budget to pay for heating oil this year.

“We used to pay as they delivered it,” Fournier said. “We can’t do it that way now.”

The statewide average cash price for home heating oil was $2.09 a gallon a year ago. Cash prices in the Bangor area ranged from about $2.40 to $2.61 on Friday.

Companies that offer prepay plans and fixed rates pay commodity traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange about 20 cents per gallon to reserve the right to purchase oil at a fixed wholesale rate in the future. That charge is passed on to consumers through increased retail prices for prepay and budget options.

The average home in Maine burns anywhere from 800 to 1,000 gallons of oil per year. Considering the typical prepay price of about $2.70 per gallon offered this week in the Bangor area, total bills could run from $2,160 to $2,700 to pay for next winter’s heating oil now.

Budget programs feature a slightly higher rate – about $2.80 per gallon at the moment – but allow payments to be spread over several months throughout the year.

Traditionally, home heating oil prices have declined during the summer months when demand is lower, but that hasn’t been the case since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

When crude oil prices rose dramatically last summer to more than $70 per barrel, many Mainers held off buying protection plans, gambling that the price of heating oil would drop by fall, according to Mike Shey, president of Webber Energy Fuels, based in Bangor.

Prices failed to lower, however, and many consumers were forced to pay elevated rates in October and through the winter.

“When the market continued to go up, it froze people,” Shey said. “A lot of people learned from that and are locking in early this year.”

Because of increased demand, the market’s instability is magnified during winter months and cash prices are bound to escalate, he said.

The price per gallon of oil at times has fluctuated 10 cents each day, according to Jamie Py, president of the Maine Oil Dealers Association.

“With that uncertainty, the option to buy now when the price is certain is much more attractive than waiting to pay the cash price in the winter,” Py said this week.

Since Webber Energy Fuels made its protection plans available on May 1, a “significant increase” of homeowners has prepaid oil this year and capitalized on a tranquil period in the market, Shey said. Last year, about 40 percent of his customers purchased fixed-rate oil. About 25 percent have already locked in this year.

While many people are opting to buy early, prices are still high, Shey admitted, and that trend is expected to endure. Oil prices this summer don’t reflect the mild winter, he added. High demand and limited surplus worldwide continue to fuel the market. Further volatility is inevitable, he said.

Tim Dysart, vice president at fuel supplier Dysart’s Inc. in Hermon, said that while prices typically have dropped during the summer, that hasn’t been the case recently. In the past three years, oil his company purchased was at its cheapest in the spring. About one-third of Dysart’s customers typically pay for oil early, he said.

During the past five weeks, a lull in the market prompted buyers to act sooner rather than later, according to oil company staffers.

Prices are beginning to inch upward again, however, according to Beth Nagusky, director of Maine’s Office of Energy Independence and Security. Any tranquility in market prices may be fleeting, she said.

“Right now, it’s so volatile that it’s impossible to predict,” Nagusky said.

Ted Taylor, 46, of Bangor capitalized on the steady rates earlier this season and signed up for a fixed-rate budget plan, as he has done for the past eight years. He said it eliminates the hassle of shopping around when prices are inconsistent from day to day. And because of the large lump-sum payment required, prepaying for oil wasn’t an option.

“I don’t have that cash on hand,” he said Wednesday as he fumbled through files containing past monthly oil bills.

Taylor, who lives with his wife and teenage son in a 3,000-square-foot home, now pays about $450 per month on his heating oil budget plan. Just two years ago, the bill was $250 a month.

“We’re at a point that we don’t want to turn the thermostat down,” he said, adding they have already cut heat to an extent. “We’ll just have to spend less on other things and find other ways to cut costs.”

Low-income consumers are looking toward fuel-assistance services like the Maine State Housing Authority’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Jennifer Giosia overseas LIHEAP funds for Penquis CAP, which administers aid in Piscataquis, Penobscot and Knox counties. She said a record 9,400 households received help last year, while the average benefit per recipient was $614.

Penquis CAP will take appointments from qualified LIHEAP applicants starting July 10 and begin reviewing submissions a week later. With rising prices, however, state and federal funding likely won’t meet the outcry for assistance. Households may have to settle for smaller subsidies.

“That’s why we’re looking for private donations to make sure no one freezes this winter,” Giosia said.