Finance site calls Maine one of America’s most ‘energy expensive’

Source: WalletHub

The finance website WalletHub.com, which steadily churns out buckets of research comparing American states and cities on a variety of criteria, this time is evaluating energy costs across the country.

The good news? Maine households don’t waste electricity, and they pay decent prices for home heating oil.

The bad news, though, is that when all the numbers are crunched, WalletHub places Maine among the 10 most “energy expensive” states in the country. In the interactive map above, the states are ranked from No. 1 to 51 (including Washington, D.C.) with 1 being the least expensive and 51 being the most.

While the state came in at a strong No. 9 in both electricity consumption per housing unit and in affordability of home heating oil, the website put Maine dead last in terms of overall home heating oil consumption — not a surprise considering the state’s notorious dependence on the fuel.

The natural gas landscape in the state has both helped and hurt the state in WalletHub’s rankings, with Maine’s consumption of natural gas per housing unit the third lightest in the country, but its natural gas prices coming in at No. 47 — a juxtaposition that can perhaps be expected in a place where the fuel source is still being expanded and hasn’t yet reached all corners of the state.

Maine’s total monthly energy cost per household is $341, according to the website, good for No. 44 — or the eighth most expensive out of the 51 places ranked. Of that, an average of $107.60 comes from home heating oil costs and $128 comes from motor vehicle fuel. About $101 of that total comes from household electricity and $4 comes from natural gas, which, again, makes sense when natural gas prices are averaged out across a bunch of communities where the fuel isn’t available.

For reference, the least “energy expensive” place in the country is the nation’s capital, where the monthly energy cost is $223 per household, while the most is Connecticut, at $410 per month per household.

As low as Maine places nationally, it’s actually the second cheapest state for energy in New England, where all six states find themselves at No. 40 or below. New Hampshire is the least expensive of the bunch, at $324 per month per household.

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