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Les Otten of Bethel began his work on wood pellet heating after retiring as vice chairman of the Boston Red Sox in 2007.
While the media and many of us are immersed in Maine’s current political contests, we should also be mindful of the very real fiscal challenges facing our citizens come November that demand our attention. We need to address the cost of staying warm, keeping the lights on, and reducing dependence on fuels we do not control. The Bangor Daily News appropriately highlighted this in the recent, well titled article, “Maine has ignored this homegrown substitute for heating oil.”
The numbers make the point. According to Maine’s Department of Energy Resources heating fuel comparison, wood pellets for a boiler cost about $30.23 per million Btu. By comparison, an air-source heat pump runs about $23.88 to $34.83 per million Btu, heating oil about $40.61 to $45.17, propane about $41.39 to $46.57, and electric baseboard heat about $75.23. Prices vary by household and region, but the trend is clear: pellets are a practical, lower-cost option compared with heating oil, propane, heat pumps, and electric resistance heat.
There are two headline questions that need to be addressed relating to electrification: Where it comes from now and where future generation will come from, and secondly what the increased cost will be.
Electricity appears clean at the point you plug in, but it isn’t. We are part of the New England Power Pool and only about 18% of the energy from the pool is renewable with the rest coming from gas, coal, oil, and some nuclear. New renewable generation isn’t being built sufficient to serve the growing demand. According to the Maine Monitor, Maine’s electric price per kilowatt-hour in 2021 was 13.96 cents. By April of 2026, the average cost per kilowatt-hour in Maine was 28.42 cents. With the increased push for electrification, and an economically constrained supply of energy, common sense says that increased demand results in increased kilowatt prices to all homeowners regardless of their usage.
The cost of living should be the center of our energy debate. Maine has answers. We have forests, workers, mills, pellet producers, truckers and technicians who can help keep more energy dollars here at home. There are modern, convenient solutions for whole home pellet heating and hot water. Supporting modern pellet heating, weatherization, and locally sourced fuels is not about nostalgia. It is about household budgets, rural jobs, and resilience when global oil markets or out-of-state power costs spike.
Focusing on these issues does not mean ignoring politics. It means demanding that candidates, parties, and policymakers return to the issues Mainers are facing. Homes need affordable heat. Businesses need predictable operating costs. Communities need energy choices that strengthen independence rather than deepening reliance on imported oil, propane, or expensive electricity.
As we plan for the next decade, Maine needs to take advantage of local, affordable energy for heating. If wood pellets can deliver heat at a lower cost per unit than heating oil, propane, and common electric options, then they deserve a bigger place in our affordability strategy. Maine’s leaders must make affordable, locally sourced heat a central part of the state’s energy future.