South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
A COLD REALITY CHECK
Food or heat in winter? For some, it may come down to this amid rising energy costs
JAY, Maine — Families across the country are looking toward winter with dread as energy costs soar and fuel supplies tighten.
The Department of Energy is projecting sharp price increases for home heating compared with last winter and some worry whether heating assistance programs will be able to make up the difference for struggling families.
Aaron Raymo saw the writing on the wall and began stocking up on heating oil in 5-gallon increments over the summer as costs crept upward. He filled a container with heating oil as he could afford it, usually on paydays, and used a heating assistance program to top off his 275-gallon oil tank with the arrival of colder weather.
His family is trying to avoid being forced into a difficult decision — choosing between food or heating their home. “It’s a hard one,” he said.
A number of factors are converging to create a bleak situation: Global energy consumption has rebounded from the start of the pandemic, and supply was barely keeping pace before the war in Ukraine further reduced supplies.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association says energy costs will be the highest in more than a decade this winter.
The Energy Department projects heating bills will jump 28% this winter for those who rely on natural gas, used by nearly half of U.S. households for heat. Heating oil is projected to be 27% higher and electricity 10% higher, the agency said.
That comes against inflation rates that accelerated last month with consumer prices growing 6.6%, the fastest such pace in four decades.
The pain will be especially acute in New England, which is heavily reliant on heating oil to keep homes warm. It’s projected to cost more than $2,300 to heat a typical home with heating oil this winter, the Energy Department said.
In Jay, where Raymo lives with his partner, Lucinda Tyler, and 8-year-old son, residents were already bracing for the worst before the local paper mill announced it’s going to close, putting more than 200 people out of work.
Both Raymo and Tyler work full-time jobs. He works as many as 80 hours a week in an orthopedists’ office and she works from home in shareholder services for a financial services company. They don’t qualify for much help even though they’re scraping by to keep up with repairs, buy gas and put food on the table — and heat their 100-yearold home.
“We work significant hours, but it seems that it’s not enough,” said Tyler, who wept when she learned they qualified for a modest amount of heating assistance.
Last month, Congress added $1 billion in funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, bringing the total to $4.8 billion and making additional heating aid available for the start of the winter season.
The third hottest summer on record strained LIHEAP funding, “so I am glad that we were able to secure these new resources before the cold of winter sets in,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
But that level represents an overall reduction from last year, when federal pandemic relief pushed the total energy assistance package past $8 billion.