enlarge The Associated Press

Sweaters are standard gear during the colder months for Stacy Crowell, 29, of Bath and her daughter Caitlyn, 3, and the electric space heater at left helps reduce heating bills.

HEATING OIL PRICES

STATEWIDE cash price as of Nov. 5: $3.09 a gallon.

LAST YEAR at this time: $2.20 a gallon.

DIFFERENCE: 89 cents.

Source: Maine Office of Energy Independence and Security

HOW TO HELP, HOW TO GET HELP

THE STATE has established the Keep ME Warm Fund to supplement government heating assistance. Businesses, charities and individuals can donate money, which is distributed to community agencies.

OR, YOU CAN send money directly to one of the state's 10 Community Action Program agencies, and earmark it for specific needs. The central address: Keep ME Warm Fund P.O. Box 200 East Wilton, ME 04234

BESIDES RECEIVING HELP buying oil, low-income residents can get free kits with materials to help keep heat in and lower electric bills. The state's Keep ME Warm program recently delivered 100 kits to the Community Assistance Program agencies. The kits, with energy-saving light bulbs, low-flow shower heads and other materials, will be distributed on a first- come, first-served basis.

Nowhere in America, it seems, are people more apprehensive about the prospect of a $3-a-gallon winter than in Maine.

Motorists nationwide may grumble about gasoline prices now hovering around $3 for a gallon of regular, but home heating oil that soared this month to $3.09 a gallon -- breaking the $3 barrier for the first time -- is the focus of concern in Maine.

The reasons for Maine's vulnerability are clear:

-- It tops the list of states most dependent on oil heat, with 80 percent of homes relying on No. 2 oil or kerosene.

-- It's one of the nation's coldest states, with the northern city of Caribou often singled out by the National Weather Service as having the lowest temperature among the Lower 48.

-- In terms of per capita income, Maine is generally ranked as the poorest state in the Northeast.

-- And lots of older homes lack adequate insulation, making them harder to heat.

So as heating oil prices hit record levels and the sound of oil furnaces kicking in becomes more frequent, plenty of people are worrying about whether they'll be able to scrape up enough money to keep warm.

"It's not just low-income people who are fearful. It's the working couple or families who are now going to have to choose between heating, literally eating, and of course driving," said John Kerry, director of the state Office of Energy Independence and Security.

For families struggling from paycheck to paycheck, the cost of filling a 275-gallon tank can easily blow a hole in the budget.

In Bath, Stacy Crowell, a 29-year-old mother of two whose husband works at Bath Iron Works, turns down the thermostat, puts plastic sheeting on windows to keep out the cold and compares prices at local oil dealers before filling the tank.

The family, which burns 800 to 1,000 gallons of fuel a year, does not qualify for government assistance.

"Our incomes are just over the limit, so we can't get help for anything. Every program we try for, we're just over it," she said.

With the recent spike in prices, Crowell is wondering how long the family can afford to remain in the drafty old farmhouse that they bought five years ago, when heating oil was much cheaper.

"We're thinking about selling in the spring because it takes so much to heat this place," she said. "We can't afford it."

The state, meanwhile, is planning for a worst-case scenario.

Gov. John Baldacci is prepared to convene an emergency task force in the event that fuel supplies are disrupted and shelters are needed to accommodate those who have run out of fuel. In the meantime, officials are pressing Congress for more money for needy households and are looking to respond to any signs of price-gouging.

"There's a lot of fear out there," said Judy Frost, who directs the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for needy residents in Franklin County. "Everyone's afraid to speculate about what the prices will be in January and February, when the really cold temperatures set in."

Although many recipients of federal LIHEAP money are elderly and on fixed incomes, Frost and others who administer the program are seeing an increasing number of applications from the younger working poor who may not quality for benefits under eligibility guidelines.

"We're finding more and more people applying who are over income because they're so afraid that they're not going to be able to make ends meet and pay for oil this winter," said Eleanor West, LIHEAP director for Hancock and Washington counties.

The surge in prices has been dramatic.

The state energy office, which conducts a weekly price survey during the heating season, said its latest average price of $3.09 was up 23 cents in just one week and was 89 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. Nationally, the average price was $3.11, according to the Energy Information Administration.

About 8.1 million of the nation's 107 million households use heating oil, most of them...