Maine doesn’t have reserves of oil or gas, but that doesn’t mean steps can’t be taken to reduce residents’ heating bills. Environment Northeast, an advocacy group in New England and eastern Canada, has proposed a national efficiency program to reduce heating oil usage. Such programs exist for electricity and natural gas. Expanding the concept to heating oil, which 80 percent of Maine homes rely on, makes sense.

“Energy efficiency means standing up and taking control of the situation, not sitting back to let the situation control us,” Michael Stoddard, a lawyer with the group, told the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee last week. Sen. Olympia Snowe is the committee’s senior Republican member.

“The one thing ‘energy efficiency’ does not mean is making do with less,” he added, explaining that efficiency is not the same as conservation. Efficiency doesn’t mean turning down the thermostat and putting on a sweater to stay warm. Efficiency means insulating the house and keeping the furnace tuned so that it takes less heating oil or propane to keep the house warm.

Environment Northeast proposes a surcharge on fuel oil, propane and kerosene with the money earmarked for efficiency investments such as adding insulation to homes and improving or replacing heating systems at homes and businesses. The charge would be on wholesale imports to Maine, but dealers are likely to pass the cost on to their customers.

The group estimates home heating fuel usage can be reduced by 20 percent by taking such steps. At current heating oil prices, that could save homeowners $1,000 a year.

A charge of 5 cents per gallon would generate more than $26 million a year and a 10-cent surcharge would generate more than $52 million a year for this work.

Maine residents and businesses will spend about $2 billion on these fuels this year. The vast majority of that money goes out of state. Money spent on efficiency largely stays in Maine to pay for work that local contractors do and to buy boilers and appliances sold in Maine. Further, the money consumers save can go into the local economy for other purchases.

Efficiency Maine reduced electricity usage by more than 87,000 megawatt-hours last year, saving Maine companies and households more than $100 million over the life of the more efficient equipment and lighting installed through the program. For every $1 of efficiency investments, nearly $4 was saved.

Environment Northeast aims to extend this successful but underfunded model to heating oil.

This program won’t dramatically reduce heating costs, but it is a reasonable and responsible step to take while awaiting larger energy policy decisions.