Strong Propane Services owner Jason Strong prepares to fill propane tanks Thursday morning at Community Credit Union in Turner. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — An extended cold snap is taxing heating systems and people’s pocketbooks across Maine this winter, forcing some customers to wait a few days to a week or more to get deliveries, especially if they are not set up for automatic delivery.

“People in the liquid fuels retail and wholesale business in Maine are very, very busy,” Charlie Summers said this week. “Almost seven in 10 homes in Maine either use home heating oil or propane. So, liquid fuels are a very big part of the equation for home heating.”

Summers is president and CEO of the Maine Energy Marketers Association, which represents more than 300 members who own and operate 70% of Maine’s 1,300 convenience stores, selling more than 1 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, and distributing more than 90% of all the propane sold in Maine each year.

“The winter that we are dealing with is a little bit unlike the last three to four winters … I think I heard on the news today it’s been 30 days straight that it’s been under the freezing mark,” Summers said in an interview Tuesday.

To be clear, there does not appear to be a shortage of fuels, but smaller suppliers may have used up their allocation and may have to pay a surcharge to get more fuel.

It doesn’t just seem colder this winter, it has been colder, according to Jon Palmer, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Gray. He said the extended cold snap began around the middle of January and is not expected to ease until this weekend.

Palmer said the average temperature in Portland in January was 22.8 degrees — the normal is 24. As of Feb. 14, the city was 5 degrees below the normal 24.5. Snowfall in Portland was also above normal as of Feb. 14 with 20 inches compared with a normal 7.9 inches. Palmer said Portland had more days below zero than cities such as Augusta, Lewiston and Auburn in the same period. Low spots such as Fryeburg recorded -21° on Jan. 22.

The cold has had a ripple effect by increasing demand for fuel as people turn up their thermostats or bring older heating systems back online to supplement electric heat pumps. Snow accumulation is adding extra time to deliveries, especially in rural areas.

Jason Strong of Strong Propane Services in Hebron fills propane tanks Thursday morning at Community Credit Union in Turner. He says a driver shortage and the cold snap have kept them very busy. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

All these factors are taxing delivery drivers, who are in short supply and even coming out of retirement to help oil companies meet customer demand.

Drivers of any kind have been in short supply and in high demand since the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are aging out and younger generations are not interested in driving for a living. Summers’ trade group will even pay the cost of the classroom part of a commercial driver’s license as an incentive to attract new drivers.

Summers said most of his members’ customers are set up on automatic delivery.

“What that does is not only ensure that individual business or home always has the fuel that they require, it also helps the retailer know from year-to-year just how much fuel they will need approximately to have on hand to service their client base this winter .”

Jason Strong started his propane business one year ago and says he is still accepting new customers as fast as he can get enroll them. His company is based in Hebron and services central and western Maine. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Some households and businesses have transitioned from oil or propane to heat pumps. The cold has forced some to reactivate older systems needing fuel. Other households are consuming more fuel than they have in the past few years, and still others cannot afford minimum deliveries of 100 gallons. These customers are considered “will call” and get a lower priority for delivery than customers with a contract like automatic delivery.

Jason Strong started Strong Propane Services in March 2024 and said he is as busy as he wants.

“We have been extremely busy, way busier than most companies normally would be at this time of year for onboarding customers,” he said Thursday while delivering fuel to a commercial account in Turner. “We are taking on new customers, we are trying to relieve the situation for people being able to continue getting heat.”

Strong is based in Hebron and services the central and western parts of the state. He and another driver handle deliveries.

Strong has worked for big oil and small oil companies in Maine for more than 10 years.

“It is an issue out there that there’s a shortage of drivers; they are in demand,” Strong said. “What we’re hearing and what we’re seeing is that customers are not being able to get their fuel deliveries in a timely manner.”

Strong is accepting new clients looking for a propane supplier. He does not sell heating oil. He encourages people to sign up for automatic delivery because he also said it helps the suppliers ensure enough fuel.

“At the end of the day, we want to just make sure that our customers are not running out of heat in the middle of the night and not waiting for extended periods,” he said.

Jason Strong, owner of Strong Propane Services in Hebron, fills propane tanks Thursday morning at Community Credit Union in Turner. Seven in 10 Mainers use propane or heating oil to heat their homes. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs against Canada should be of particular interest to Mainers. If imposed March 4, as planned, fuels from Canada would see a 10% tariff.

Summers said more than 90% of fuels consumed in Maine come from Canada, which means a 10% increase in the wholesale cost, which is likely to be passed on to consumers.

If you need help paying for fuel this winter you can apply through the Heating Assistance in Maine for low-income households. It is administered through MaineHosuing at www.mainehousing.org/programs-services/energy/energydetails/liheap

Heating fuel prices are monitored and posted by the Governor’s Energy Office at www.maine.gov/energy/heating-fuel-prices.