Households that rely on heating oil to keep warm in the winter dropped to its lowest level in decades last year, a decline state energy officials partially credit to the rapid adoption of electric heat pumps.
Maine is still the most heating oil dependent state in the nation, with just over half of households using the fuel as their primary source of heat. But that is down from 70% in 2010.
And the decline sped up after the administration of Governor Janet Mills started a campaign of financial incentives to encourage residents to switch over to high-efficiency heat pumps.
The share of Mainers using electricity for their primary heat nearly doubled to 13.5% between 2018 and 2024 according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
"This progress is making a real difference for Maine people and businesses, improving their energy efficiency and cutting energy costs," Mills said in a press release.
The state met Mills' goal of adding 100,000 heat pump units in 2023 and the governor set a new target —175,000 additional units by 2027.
Some customers, however, have switched to other fossil fuels including gas and propane.
The share of households using gas has doubled to 8% since 2010. Propane is now the second-largest primary source of heat in Maine, at about 16% of households, according to the Census Bureau.
Dan Burgess, acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Energy Resources says that imported heating oil is subject to price shocks. That's why successive Maine governments have tried ways to get residents using less expensive and volatile fuels, he added.
"The diversification away from home heating oil is certainly a positive trend and one that policy makers and those in the energy space have been encouraging for decades," Burgess said.
