Last winter, Michael Jandro and Jillian Park could face heating costs that rivaled a Maine farmer’s $806 monthly mortgage payment.
The couple uses oil to heat their 135-year-old house. Oil is the most expensive of the major heat sources and is common in Maine. In Maine, many residents began preparing for the financial strain long before the first freeze.
Jandro, 43, and Park, 52, qualified for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) last year after being unable to work due to work injuries. heating and cooling costs. They paid about $1,500 for heating for the entire winter, with subsidies covering the rest. Without that help, Jandro said, “we would be lost.”
It’s no secret that low-income families struggle to heat their homes, but for many, this winter will be even tougher than last.
Energy costs have become a source of great pain for Americans as they deal with the fastest inflation in 40 years. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is straining global energy supplies and pushing up fuel prices.
You can also choose cheap protein at the grocery store or fix your car instead of replacing it, but often when it comes to heating your home you only have one choice.
“You can’t switch the way you heat your home based on fuel prices,” said Mark Wolff, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Council. inflation.For natural gas, the national very common The association expects heating costs to increase by more than 20% during the heating season, from $709 a year ago to $856.
In recent years, home energy assistance programs have been budgeted at about $4 billion annually. The American Rescue Plan, a massive pandemic relief package for 2021, provided an additional $4.5 billion. But a repeat of that magnitude seems unlikely.
The House and Senate Budget Committees have approved funding similar to the pre-pandemic budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1. letter Ask the committee to increase funding.
“With the end of stimulus to LIHEAP, states will have little choice but to reduce the average subsidy size and the number of households served,” Wolfe said.
Each state sets program eligibility based on income. The maximum gross income for her family of four in Maine is her $59,348. In most states, local nonprofits help distribute federal funds that recipients can receive as energy bill credits. Last winter’s average profit in Maine was $758 per household.
Jandro and Park are receiving support through the Aroostook County Action Program. The program covers the cost of replacing a stove that broke down last winter with a more energy efficient one and helps install a heating pump. The couple hopes these changes will lower their utility bills.
Jandro, who lives in Ashland, a town of 1,300 people in northern Maine, doesn’t spend much on fun things because he’s worried about his furnace bill next winter.low in winter May be below zero Fahrenheit.
The Aroostook County group also assisted Sadie Webb and her partner, Joseph Keaton, who live in a Fort Fairfield trailer. Without assistance, heating would cost us about $250 a month in the winter, but we would end up paying about $500 in the season.
Making ends meet is still a challenge. Webb works at her convenience store, and Keaton has seasonal jobs, but mostly stays home to care for her 10-month-old daughter, Ezme. “It feels like a never-ending cycle of bankruptcy,” Webb said.
According to the Maine Department of Housing, in Maine, 93% of households covered by the Heating Assistance Program have someone over the age of 65, under the age of 6, or with a disability. His 85-year-old retiree, Pasquale, who lives in Lewiston, is one of them.
“I was so proud of my generation that I didn’t even ask for help,” said Ambro. “This was the only thing I asked for in my life.”
Assistance can be life-saving for some.When Americans don’t have enough money to heat their homes, they sometimes turn to deadly solutions — using space heaters, which are known to cause fires, or freezing temperatures for long periods of time. at least in January 19 dead At a Bronx fire connected to a space heater.
said Sharon Scott-Chandler, CEO of Action for Boston Community Development. is a Boston non-profit organization that helps distribute heating subsidies.
Sidney Fuller Jones, a 60-year-old public health worker in Boston, remembers when she and her husband couldn’t afford oil to heat their home and water. To bathe the children, they heated a large pot on the stove.
Fuller Jones, now a widow, relies on energy assistance for gas heating of her current home, but says utility bills in the winter remain a concern.
“I pray a lot,” she said. “Because some things and circumstances are beyond your control.”