Projected Lack of Funds for Energy Assistance Recipients
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 – Low income Connecticut families will likely receive less energy assistance from the government this winter than last year, officials said, because of budget cuts, higher oil prices and other increased costs.
“We’re trying to reach as many households, but the benefit level is less,” said Matthew Barrett, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Social Services. Barrett said, however, the financial situation won’t become completely clear until around Jan. 1, but extra funding, which was received last year, isn’t expected.
Approximately 66,000 households will qualify this winter for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, the same amount as last year, Barrett said. But based on current budget projections and increased oil prices, Barrett said it is unlikely the Contingency Heating Assistance Program, a feature of the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, which last year provided benefits during tough winter conditions to an additional 14,000 households, will be available.
Deputy Commissioner Claudette Beaulieu told the Connecticut legislators on Sept. 21 that the state is expecting to receive $36.9 million in federal funding from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, giving the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program a budget of about $37.4 million this winter. Last year the program had an overall budget of $43.3 million. Unanticipated costs last year exhausted money that was planned to be carried over to this year, Beaulieu said. The end result, she said is a projected loss of about $5.9 million.
If additional money does become available this winter, it will be used to increase benefits to those in the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, said Barrett.
If funding runs short, the state has agreed to use money from its general fund to support the present funding plan, Barrett said.
The federal appropriations bill containing funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has not yet been passed through Congress. The House version, which includes an amendment to increase funding, has been passed, with the support of all five Connecticut representatives.
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), who voted in favor of the increase, hopes the Senate will follow the House’s actions and push to increase funding for the program, her press secretary, Brian Schubert, said in a written statement.
Johnson believes Congress must continue increasing funding for the federal program “to ensure that families are not forced to choose between food or health care and heating their homes,” Schubert said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved its version of the bill, which provides a slight funding increase from last year but less money than the House version, and is now awaiting a vote.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), believes “there is no question that there is insufficient funding for LIHEAP,” his press secretary, Holly Barnes, said in a written statement. Barnes said, “Sen. Dodd has fought for increases in the program ever since its inception in the 1980’s.”
She noted, however, that funding has recently failed to even keep pace with inflation, let alone grown. Another problem, she said, is that significantly raising funding would be difficult because the money would have to come from other federal programs.
Barrett added that the money from the energy assistance program is distributed according to population-related formulas and because Connecticut lost a congressional seat last year it will be harder to get as much money as in the past.
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