Sep 10, 2008 - 04:05:25 CDT
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Homeowners already pinched by high food and gas prices have grown increasingly anxious about staying warm this winter.At state assistance offices and at community organizations, phones are ringing off the hook as people seek help with what are expected to be punishing heating bills. Legislators and governors from Alaska to Maine are watching the gap between surging need in their states, and assistance that may or may not be coming from Washington.
Aid agencies fear they may have to turn more people away, or give less cash assistance to individual families.
"People are very worried about this winter," said Ann Heidenreich, executive director of the nonprofit Community Energy Services in Canton, N.Y. "We're not going to deal with all that needs to be done, there's no way. We're going to have to deal with emergencies this winter."
The Energy Information Administration, a statistical division of the U.S. Department of Energy, projected last month that natural gas and heating oil will be at record highs this winter. In some cases, home heating oil, propane and kerosene is already twice as high as it was two years ago, meaning that a dollar of federal aid will not travel nearly as far this winter.
Making things worse is an economy that has left many more people without jobs, and left state treasuries bare.
Vermont budgeted $4 million to buttress federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds this winter, but that money has eroded along with the state economy, one official said.
"We were told nothing would be coming from state general fund dollars," said Richard Moffi, from Vermont's Office of Home Heating Fuel Assistance.
In Congress, members from the Northeast pressed unsuccessfully this summer to add billions to the LIHEAP program, which helps poor families with one-time fuel costs or a heating emergency, like a broken furnace. Last year, the federal government set aside $2.6 billion; this year President Bush has proposed just $2 billion, and it is unclear when Congress will act, or how much it will approve.
North Dakota got about $15.7 million in federal dollars last year. Ron Knutson, the state's energy assistance director, said about 15,000 households were eligible for home heating aid. Given the energy demands, that number could go up this year, he said.
Residents may begin applying Oct. 1, through county social services offices.
"We really believe that the feds will come through again. They always have in the past," said Tove Mandigo, director of the North Dakota Human Services Department's economic assistance policy division. Contingency funds have been added to the regular funding in other years to deal with severe weather, she said.
Connecticut legislators recently approved $44 million to help residents, schools and others with heating costs and weatherization while Vermont is trying to cull more firewood from state forests to heat homes.
Maine, which received $38 million last year from the federal government, would need $70 million just to deliver the same benefit in light of rising fuel prices, said Jo-Ann Choate, the manager of energy and housing services for the Maine State Housing Authority.
"This is a real crisis for the Northeast," she said.
Choate said many residents are carrying a past-due balance from last winter's bills.
On Tuesday, the EIA released data projecting that heating fuel expenditures for the average household using oil would increase 30 percent over last winter, and 19 percent for natural gas.
In northwest Montana, morning temperatures are dipping into the 30s. An elderly man who sought help from the nonprofit Northwest Montana Human Resources turned his furnace on twice in August and was stunned by a $70 bill.
"Conservation is the thing that I'm stressing the most," said Northwest's Kimberly DeWitt, who has been distributing energy-saving light bulbs, weather stripping and door sweeps paid for by a state program. "The increased energy costs are going to hit us all."
Moffi, of Vermont's Office of Home Heating Fuel Assistance, said cash help for people who rely on home-heating oil and other liquid fuels will run out quickly if LIHEAP does not get a big boost.
"They shouldn't start going cold until Christmas," Moffi said. "Maybe they'll be warm on Christmas Day, but the day after Christmas, that fuel will be gone."
sn wrote on Sep 11, 2008 1:50 PM:
Kate wrote on Sep 10, 2008 4:19 PM:
sn wrote on Sep 10, 2008 12:55 PM:
Economic Conservative wrote on Sep 10, 2008 10:33 AM:
Mahonri wrote on Sep 10, 2008 10:02 AM:
Put the money where it will do the most good, in the fuel for decent people and not gamblers. "
Switch heating fuels wrote on Sep 10, 2008 7:59 AM:
Heating oil is the worst form of fuel to heat America's houses. Millions of storage tanks through out the US. Think they are all inspected? Yeah right. Only advantage was cheap Oil and that's not happening. Now is the time to switch. Natural Gas, Electric, Propane, Coal, even wood. No more home heating oil! "
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