According to an Associated Press report on the Wall Street Journal’s website, heating oil use is declining as homeowners are finding alternative, less-expensive ways to heat their homes.

“Millions of U.S. households use oil to heat their homes, but the Northeast has a higher proportion of people who use it as their primary heating source than any other region. Nowhere is the dependence greater than in Maine, where oil heats three out of four homes.

“Heating oil prices have shot up 32 percent over the past four months in Maine. But consumption has fallen by more than a third in the past five years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nationally, sales of residential heating oil have fallen 26 percent.” 

Read the full article here.

In related news, Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island proposed an ambitious plan to address his state’s budget problems March 8, including a tax on heating oil.

You can read the full story from heatingoil.com here.

Sources: The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, www.heatingoil.com