Governor Janet T. Mills (D), Addresses the 200 or so at the First Aannual Housing Summit at Oean Gateway Earlier This Year..

Governor Janet T. Mills (D) the first woman governor of Maine, announced yesterday that the number of Maine households reliant on oil as their primary heat source fell by move than 6% between 2022 and 2023, the largest year over year decrease since at least 2010,  according to new federal data.

The share of Maine homes using heating oil as their primary source of heating has steeply declined in recent years; down from over 70% in 2010 to just over 50% in 2023.  Since Governor Mills took office heating oil reliance is strongly correlated with an increase in the use of high efficiency heat pumps for home heating, a direct result of the Mills Administration effort to expand access to the energy-efficiency technology in Maine with close to one-third of Maine’s carbon emissions attributed to buildings, efficency improvements to heating and cooling are a key strategy for reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

:When I took office, I made it a priority to help Maine households transition away from expensive, imported fossil fuels for heating and about highj-efficiency heat pumps which reduce household energy costs while keeping homes comfortable year round,” said Governor Mills  “I am proud to see these efforts paying off, with reliance on heating oil rapidly declining across Maine and more homes then ever adopting heat pumps…………”