By the Campaign for Home Energy Assistance
April 2, 2003

As the weather across the country begins to warm, and heavy clothing is packed away for next season, thoughts of utilities bills begin to fade. But in the halls of Congress, the discussion is just beginning to heat up.

One issue lawmakers must confront is whether they should provide a needed increase in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, at a time when greater demands for defense and homeland security spending may result in domestic spending cuts.

LIHEAP is a federally funded program to help eligible low-income households meet their home heating and cooling needs. For more than 25 years, it has provided states with grants to help citizens in need who, through no fault of their own, are unable to pay their utility bills in the coldest and hottest months. From the very beginning, however, the program has been underfunded, and states are forced to turn away thousands of qualified applicants when their programs run out of money each year.

This past year, LIHEAP and the nearly 5 million households it served have been pummeled by a "perfect storm" ˜ a combination of higher energy bills, colder weather and, for many individuals, economic calamity.

"There appears to be no end in sight when it comes to people needing our help this year," said Linda Djupstrom at the Marinette County Energy Assistance program in Wisconsin. "We have been amazed at how many new applicants, households who have never applied before."

She said the Marinette County program has spent more than 75 percent of its original allocation for crisis funds, and, even with the possible receipt of additional crisis funds, the program will be out of funding in July and August, which will hamper the operation of pre-buy programs for liquid petroleum and oil customers.

In addition, senior citizens, people with disabilities and low-income families often carry a higher energy burden than most American households -- spending up to 20 percent of their income on home energy bills. For these people, home energy costs have become unaffordable.

"We're seeing most of our LIHEAP recipients beginning to fall farther and farther behind in their payments/bills since they received less money this year," said Elizabeth Castro at Peoples Energy in Chicago.

The federal Energy Information Administration‚s Short Term Energy Outlook states that heating oil expenditures are up 60 percent, taking into account both price increases and the increased consumption as a result of the cold winter. Claudia Stewart at the Citizens Energy Corporation in Boston described the situation there as "really ugly," adding that sustained cold weather has led to increased energy consumption for many households.

People who can least afford it are using fuel the fastest," Stewart said. "We usually assist between 12,000 and 13,000 households but this winter we will aid between 15,000 and 16,000," she said, adding that her fuel fund was able to help the additional households because of increased corporate donations.

It is encouraging that 51 U.S. senators recently signed a letter urging the Senate Budget Committee to fund LIHEAP at $3.0 billion in Fiscal Year 2004. That compares with $1.8 billion in the current fiscal year. The Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition has estimated that LIHEAP will need more than $3 billion next year just to match the purchasing power it provided in 1982.

Members of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, meanwhile, have voted overwhelmingly to authorize LIHEAP at $3.4 billion per year in each of the next three fiscal years.

The Campaign for Home Energy Assistance applauds these lawmakers‚ commitment to the program. But their good intentions are no guarantee of an increase in funding, and LIHEAP faces a critical need.

A sizable percentage of the American public -- and the number grows by the day -- need the short-term relief LIHEAP provides. The National Energy Assistance Directors‚ Association estimates that, with an appropriation of $1.8 billion plus the release of $200 million in emergency money this year, the states have been able to help only 17 percent of the U.S. households that were eligible for assistance.

Demand for LIHEAP funds is likely to remain high and continue to grow during the next fiscal year given the current level of unemployment, slow economic growth and the remaining high energy burden faced by low-income households.

Funding the program adequately so that fewer Americans are turned away when the need help makes sense. And it's the right thing to do.
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