Maine Diesel Prices Are Surging & We’ll All Probably Feel It

I did a double take this weekend when I drove past a local store and saw the new diesel price on the sign.

More than six bucks a gallon.

Diesel in Maine is now averaging around $6.14 a gallon, and this is one of those price increases that affects a whole lot more people than just the person standing at the pump filling up a diesel pickup.

Personally, I'm feeling pretty thankful about a decision I made last year.

I traded my diesel truck for a gas-powered 3/4-ton, and while the 6.4-liter Hemi certainly isn't what anyone would call economical, seeing diesel prices where they are right now makes me pretty happy I made the switch.

But here's the bigger issue for Maine: our state runs on a lot of diesel.

Think about the tractor-trailers hauling groceries and supplies up I-95. The delivery trucks bringing products to stores in smaller Maine communities. Dump trucks, excavators and other heavy equipment at construction sites.

And then there are Maine's working waterfronts.

Lobster boats don't exactly sip fuel.

For fishermen already dealing with the cost of bait, equipment, maintenance and everything else that comes with running a commercial fishing operation, another couple bucks per gallon for fuel can add up incredibly fast. When it costs considerably more just to leave the dock in the morning, that expense has to go somewhere.

The same is true for trucking companies and local delivery businesses.

Nearly everything sitting on the shelf at your grocery store, hardware store or local shop spent some portion of its life on a truck. Food might be transported several different times between the farm, processor, distribution center and finally the store.

Every one of those trips costs more when diesel is above $6.

Eventually, businesses can only absorb so much of that increase before some of it starts showing up in the prices we pay.

Then there's the one that really matters in Maine: heating oil.

Diesel and heating oil are closely related petroleum products, and GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan says heating oil could potentially climb above $7 a gallon — and potentially even $8 if market conditions get bad enough.

At $8 a gallon, filling an empty 275-gallon heating oil tank would cost about $2,200.

That's a brutal number for a Maine family heading into winter.

So you might drive a gas car. You might never put a drop of diesel into anything you own.

Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean you're escaping $6 diesel.

You may end up paying for it when you buy groceries, hire a contractor, order something for delivery, buy Maine seafood  or turn up the thermostat this winter.