Many more expected to seek help with heat bills

WASHINGTON – Soaring energy prices, a slow job market and rising poverty rates have states bracing for a projected 20-percent increase in the number of poor families seeking help paying their heating bills this winter.

Many of those families could end up with no help, however, because Congress hasn’t appropriated any additional cash for federally funded, state-operated Low Income Home Energy Assistance Programs. States will find it difficult to chip in because they’re suffering from stagnant tax revenues and rising Medicaid and education costs.

Nevertheless, applications for energy assistance programs are expected to jump from about 5 million households last year to 6 million nationally this winter, said Mark Wolfe, director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association in Washington.

The federal program, known as LIHEAP, last year helped pay a part of winter heating bills for nearly 4.6 million families. Under current budget projections, it’ll get $2 billion this winter, up from $1.9 billion last winter. The actual amount will be set by Congress after the elections.

But the proposed increase is more than offset by rising energy prices, which will reduce the program’s purchasing power substantially. According to Department of Energy projections, the average cost of heating a home with natural gas will jump from $870 last winter to $1,003 this winter. Doing the same with heating oil will cost $1,223 this winter, up from $953 last year. Homeowners will pay an estimated average of $1,396 for a propane-heated home, up from $1,147 last winter.

“There’s just no way that families served by these programs can adjust to these increases. Low-income families just don’t have the resources. We’re extremely concerned,” Wolfe said.

In addition to helping with heating expenses, the program last year helped cover cooling costs for about 340,000 poor families in warm climates.

To avoid turning needy people away, state assistance programs are expected to lower the amounts they pay needy families or to make eligibility requirements stricter. Both changes, when coupled with higher energy prices, would tighten the squeeze on struggling families.

The problem is growing, said Jerry McKim, the energy assistance director in Iowa. Nearly 73,000 service disconnect notices were sent to the state’s residential utility customers in August, a 27 percent increase over last year.

“There’s an ongoing affordability crisis related to energy, and it’s not unique to Iowa,” McKim said. “It’s a national crisis, and from time to time, forces come together to make that crisis a disaster. And this could be one of those years.”