More aid, but costs up in coldest states this winter
Keeping homes heated gets increasingly tough
PORTLAND, Maine – Raymond Archer was on the verge of losing his home during the cold Maine winter last year when government assistance came to the rescue, and he’s prepared for this season to be even more difficult.
Archer, a 50-year-old construction worker who was out of work for nine months during the COVID-19 pandemic, used $1,000 in heating assistance to keep his fuel tank full last year. He said he could need the help again, along with many others with rising fuel costs and predictions of a cold winter.
“If it wasn’t for them helping me – I don’t want to sound drastic – I probably would’ve given up last year,” said Archer, who rents a home in Alfred, about 30 miles from Portland. “Only reason I still have my house is because they helped me.”
For Archer and others in need of assistance as winter bears down, the news about federal assistance and heating costs is a mixed bag. The average cost of heating a home this winter is expected to be $972, up from $888 last year but down from October projections of $1,056, said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
The Biden administration has also more than doubled funds for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program this season. LIHEAP, which provides money to some homeowners and renters for heating costs, typically receives $3 billion to $4 billion
and serves 5 million households. The administration added another $4.5 billion to the program via the American Rescue Plan.
But as some parts of the country are expected to have colder winters than normal, it’s unclear if that will be enough. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said states such as Montana and Alaska are looking at winters that could be especially bitter.
And not everyone who could benefit from LIHEAP money receives it. Some don’t even know they qualify, Wolfe said.
“A lot of people who are eligible don’t think they are eligible because they think it’s just for the very poor,” he said. “I think that’s what we’d like to do: encourage families to apply even if they think it isn’t going to be helpful.”
Many families have been using their child tax credits to pay energy bills, Wolfe said. That benefit will expire in January unless Congress acts to extend it as part of a stalled $2 trillion social and environmental bill or other legislation.
The rising fuel costs are arriving at a time when many low-income families are also juggling inflated housing, food and electricity expenses and the continued burden of the pandemic.
About a quarter of Maine residents are having difficulty covering household expenses, said Alison Weiss, a spokesperson for Maine Equal Justice, an economic security advocacy group. At the national level, it’s about one-third.
“We want to make sure everyone who is qualified for help is getting into the programs that are going to help them this winter,” she said.