Rising costs of fuel might hurt utility cost relief efforts

Despite the state’s increased funding, rising gas prices will cause a tight budget for local energy cost assistance programs in Monroe and nearby counties. \nThis year, the state expects $56 million to be available through Indiana’s Energy Assistance Program, Help Thy Neighbor, to help people who can’t afford to heat their homes. Last year the state spent $44.3 million on the program, but this year’s rising energy costs necessitated the bump in funding, said Jane Jankowski, spokesperson for Gov. Mitch Daniels. \nHowever, representatives of South Central Community Action Program, Inc., which supervises the energy assistance program for Monroe, Brown, Morgan and Owen counties, are still worried they may not have enough to compensate for higher heating costs and possibly an increased numbers of applicants for relief. And once the money is gone, the program will not be able to help any more households needing aid, said Christine Combs, energy assistance program coordinator for South Central Community Action Program, Inc.\nTwo years ago, Daniels increased the eligibility of Indiana’s Energy Assistance Program from 125 percent above the poverty level to 150 percent above the poverty level, Jankowski said. In 2006, the state served 143,616 households in Indiana, giving a total of $44.3 million to Indiana households. The average household received $308.80 throughout last winter, she said.\nLast year, Monroe, Brown, Morgan and Owen counties helped about 4,500 households. This year, about $1.8 million will be available to help as many or more households this year, Combs said.\n“If we do not run out of funding, I’m sure we will see about the same amount or more,” Combs said. “We’re having new people apply that we haven’t seen in the past. It could possibly be because of job loss and because of the increase of the cost of gas.”\nThe price of gas and oil fluctuates daily, but recently, one gas company charged about $3.32 a gallon for gas, Combs said. \n“It’s the time of year when people are using more utilities,” Combs said. “When people use propane or oil, it is pretty costly. We are able to provide assistance to people who cannot usually purchase propane and oil on their own.”\nTo be eligible for energy assistance in Monroe county, a household must be at 150 percent of the poverty level or below. Households must also have a utility burden, meaning they are responsible for paying their own heating and electric bills.\n“We do not feel we have enough funding,” Combs said. “We do the best we can with what we have, but by the middle of January our funding may be gone. We can’t take anybody else once the funding is gone. We can make a waiting list and hope we get additional funding.”\nOnce households are signed up for energy assistance, their heat cannot be shut off from Dec. 1 to March 15. If funding runs out, though, no additional clients can be added and the energy assistance program must turn people away.\nThe Help Thy Neighbor energy assistance program, which Daniels started in 2005, has helped 30,000 families since it began, Jankowski said. When starting Help Thy Neighbor, Daniels increased the assistance available to households with incomes between 150 and 200 percent of the poverty level. This allowed help to families who typically cannot receive heating assistance from the state, she said.\n“Governor Daniels wanted to help more people who don’t usually receive traditional heating assistance because their incomes are too high to receive help from other programs,” Jankowski said.\nOf the $56 million, $44 million will come from federal funds, $6.9 million will come from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families fund and $4.7 million will come from leftovers from last year’s Energy Assistance Program, Jankowski said.