A CNBC report says heating oil prices have climbed about 59% from last winter, averaging $5.91 a gallon nationally and $5.83 in Maine, where roughly half of homes use it, and Jason Parent of AVEC Community Action says the spike "is crushing folks" already squeezed by the cost of living. The article describes Energy Information Administration forecasts that heating-oil households will spend about $2,115 this winter, 21% more than last year, congressional requests for $3 billion more in LIHEAP funding, a 300,000-barrel release from the Northeast heating oil reserve, and Maine residents like Catherine Lafleche, who burned Amazon boxes in a wood stove after running out of oil.