Heating Oil Hits $6.23 a Gallon in Massachusetts, Up 73% in a Year

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Energy & commodities

Massachusetts heating oil prices averaged $6.23 a gallon in the state’s latest weekly dealer survey, taken the week of Oct. 26, 2026, compared with $3.61 at the same point last year. That is a 73% jump as the heating season begins for the roughly one in five Massachusetts households that burn oil, according to WBUR.

$6.23 avg. per gallon · +73% vs. a year ago · ~$2,100 projected winter oil bill · $49M in new state aid

The figure comes from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), which phones full-service heating oil and propane dealers every week from October through March as part of a federal price program. Prices are for deliveries of 100 to 150 gallons or more and exclude cash discounts, so customers ordering smaller fills may pay more per gallon, DOER notes.

What the data shows

The increase is not limited to the most expensive dealers. DOER’s survey shows the low end of the market, the 10th percentile, at $5.73 a gallon, up 88% from $3.05 a year ago. The high end, the 90th percentile, reached $6.88, up 64% from $4.19. In dollar terms, the statewide average is up $2.62 a gallon (TBR calculation from DOER data).

Propane tells a different story. The DOER average for propane was $3.94 a gallon, up 9% from $3.60. By that measure, heating oil’s year-over-year increase is about eight times propane’s (TBR calculation from DOER data).

Separate federal data points the same way. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weighted series for Massachusetts residential heating oil rose from $6.137 on Oct. 5 to $6.254 on Oct. 26, a 1.9% increase in three weeks (TBR calculation from EIA data). Wholesale heating oil in the state was $5.310 on Oct. 26, which leaves about 94 cents a gallon between wholesale and the average residential price. EIA’s next update is due Wednesday, Nov. 4.

For a typical fill, the difference is large. At the current average, 150 gallons costs about $935, compared with about $542 at last year’s price (TBR calculation from DOER averages).

What a winter of oil heat may cost

The federal government projects that oil-heated households in the region will spend just over $2,100 on fuel this winter, up 21% from last winter, even with a warmer-than-usual winter built into the forecast, WBUR reported. Electric-heated homes are projected at $1,637 and natural gas homes at $879. Natural gas customers face their own changes this season under the winter gas rates approved by state regulators.

Industry and aid groups tie the price run-up to global supply problems. WBUR reported that the war with Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war have pushed fuel oil and diesel to record highs and damaged refining capacity. “We are in a worldwide energy crisis,” Michael Ferrante, president of the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, told the station. Drivers have seen a smaller version of the same pressure in gasoline prices.

Help with heating bills

Gov. Maura Healey announced last month that the state would add $15 million to the Home Energy Assistance Program, known as HEAP or LIHEAP, and create a new $34 million heating benefit for middle-income oil customers who earn too much for the federal program. Her administration expects the new benefit to reach 50,000 households, according to WBUR.

The federal side is less settled. The state’s housing office told WBUR that Massachusetts has received $142 million for heating assistance so far this year, compared with $163 million last year, when the program helped 156,000 households. Congress has not passed a full-year appropriation, so the program is running at last winter’s level.

Demand is already up. First-time HEAP applications statewide are up 53% from last year, and the state has received 16,000 applications for the new middle-income benefit, said Andrea Mendoza, director of energy services at the Boston nonprofit ABCD.

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, warned that states “will run out of money much faster than they would have normally because people need far more help.” HEAP is distributed through a network of community action agencies, WBUR reported; Boston-area residents can contact ABCD, one of the agencies in that network.

Sources

• WBUR: As winter heating season begins, Mass. residents face record high fuel oil costs
• Mass.gov (DOER): Massachusetts home heating fuels prices
• U.S. Energy Information Administration: Massachusetts weekly heating oil and propane prices