Despite diesel prices hitting a record high this week and home heating oil up 50% in just three months, the state’s fuel distributors warn the problems are far from over. The head of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association said consumers likely will face shortages and additional price inc reases this fall and winter. “There’s no limit to how high [prices] could go if these wars continue,” Chris Herb, the association’s president and CEO, said Wednesday, referring to ongoing conflicts between the U.S. and Iran and between Russian and Ukraine, both of which interfere with petroleum production and exports. “I am immensely concerned.” The average retail diesel price hit a record high Wednesday in Connecticut, approaching $6.48 per gallon, then ticked another 3/10ths of a penny over that mark on Thursday, according to AAA. That’s up 71% from the $3.78 average price recorded here one year ago. The national average hit a record Tuesday at $6.53 per gallon and stood at $6.51 on Thursday, AAA reported. One year ago, the national average stood at $3.69 per gallon. Besides the ongoing wars, diesel prices also often surge each autumn as farmers in the U.S. and other Northern Hemisphere nations need fuel to run equipment for harvest, said Herb. “We have two events colliding at the same time,” he added. “Unfortunately, it’s beyond our control on how we would attract supply.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported this week that diesel and other related fuel stocks were about 12% below the seasonal average, and Herb warned that could mean tight supply conditions for months to come, depending on whether President Donald Trump’s administration restricts fuel exports to preserve domestic supplies. Further complicating matters, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection reported an average price of $5.91 per gallon this week for home heating oil. That’s up 50% from the $3.95 price noted the week of June 22, but still below the $6.37 cost the department listed in early May of 2022, two-and-a-half months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. Home heating oil is very similar in chemical structure to diesel fuel. Both are distillates, produced by boiling crude oil and then cooling it back into liquid form. And because of their similarities, both are subject to the same political and market pressures. The heating oil situation is particularly troublesome here for low-to-moderate residents who rely on the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program to keep warm. While the demand for aid has grown steadily in recent years, demand for the federal Low-Income Household Energy Assistance Program funds that the state doles out via the CEAP program has not. The state Department of Social Services projects the poorest and most vulnerable households that qualify for the program would receive $1,995 this winter, down 33% from the $2,980 maximum grant provided in 2019-20. Members of a state energy advisory board, including Connecticut AARP Director Nora Duncan, have urged Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly in recent years to add state dollars to the program to bolster grant levels. Many legislators from both parties also have endorsed the use of state funds to expand energy assistance. Lamont and lawmakers have set aside $550 million from past state budget surpluses to mitigate federal human service programs cuts. About $260 million remains in the response fund, which already has been tapped to bolster healthcare and nutrition programs and to assist immigrants whose legal status has been challenged by the Trump administration. A spokesman for Lamont’s reelection campaign, Rob Blanchard, said, “Trump’s war in Iran [is] driving up gas, home heating oil and diesel prices on everything we buy, and instead of helping, the White House keeps trying to gut LIHEAP, the program families need most right now. Connecticut deserves a partner in Washington, not more chaos.” But minority Republicans in the state House and Senate say local Democrats’ policies have done plenty to make Connecticut unaffordable. The GOP released a tax relief plan that includes repealing a highway mileage-based levy on large commercial non-farm trucks. “Connecticut didn’t become one of the most expensive states in the country the day President Trump took office,” House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said two weeks ago when Republicans rolled out their tax-cutting options. According to state analysts, that truck tax will generate $62 million in revenue this fiscal year for the state’s transportation program, which holds more than $640 million in reserves and projected surplus. But that $62 million cost, along with spiking fuel expenses, is passed onto shoppers at supermarkets, department stores and other retail outlets that rely on deliveries from diesel-powered trucks, said John Blair, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. Blair, whose association represents more than 500 trucking and related businesses, called the rising diesel prices “a grave concern” for his industry, predicting consumers would benefit from any repeal of the highway tax. “Any cost that we can reduce,” he said, “we can pass along.” ...read more read less