Rell Calls for Fuel Assistance Summit
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29-The cold weather is still a few weeks away, but Connecticut social service agencies are already worried about how they are going to help low-income residents pay for fuel this winter.
“We’re going to get quite a bit of calls coming into the late fall and winter months,” said Major William Sharpe, the Salvation Army’s area coordinator for Greater Bridgeport. “We’ve got people who are back still trying to pay bills from last winter.”
The Salvation Army’s HeatShare assistance program is one of the many that will be feeling extra strain this winter as residents grapple with increased fuel prices.
The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association is predicting this winter’s expenditures for families using home heating oil will increase by 31 percent and for those using natural gas by 71 percent. This is in addition to a projected $1,000 average annual increase in what families will pay for gasoline.
In response to the skyrocketing prices, Gov. Jodi Rell has called for a summit meeting on Oct. 7 in Hartford to discuss the state’s fuel assistance needs.
“I want to make sure the state is prepared to help people get through the winter heating season,” Rell said in a recent press release, “Summer is now officially over, and I want an assessment of what the state’s energy assistance needs are before the cold weather hits.”
Rell recently wrote to Connecticut’s seven members of Congress urging that federal funds for low-income heating assistance be increased by at least $1 billion this year.
The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is the main source of funds for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, which helped more than 50,000 residents last winter.
Earlier this month, Rep. Christopher Shays joined more than 50 House members who signed a letter to President Bush asking for an increase in emergency funds for the heating assistance program.
Fuel assistance officials also are concerned that struggles to pay heating bills will cause some residents not to be able to pay for other necessities.
“The heating problems not only deal with the ability to pay your bills but when you make choices with diminishing resources sometimes you will have to choose between food, medicine and heat,” the Salvation Army’s Sharpe said.
At the summit meeting next week, Rell will be speaking with assistance program officials as well as legislators to draw up a plan for the state to provide help to residents who need it this winter.
“The bottom line,” a spokesman from Rell’s office said, “is that Gov. Rell will make sure the state safety net is preserved.”
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