By Edward Mason
Staff writer
June 03, 2008 12:45 am BOSTON — Consumer advocates are appealing to the Massachusetts Legislature to help the more than 100,000 low-income households that still haven't caught up on last winter's heating bills. At today's Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee hearing into rising gasoline prices, lawmakers will be asked to approve a $15 million state supplement to federal fuel assistance to the poor, which President Bush has proposed cutting. In May, home heating oil averaged $4.59 a gallon in Massachusetts, according to the state Division of Energy Resources, up from $2.51 a gallon a year ago. Natural gas on average was $3.03 per gallon, up from $2.71 a year earlier. The problem is acute in the Merrimack Valley, said Al Mickee, energy director of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, a nonprofit organization which administers the federal heat subsidy program for the region. "Their backs are up to the wall," Mickee said. "They're choosing to pay for medicine, heat or fuel and eating. The price (of fuel) has escalated to the point of dire straits." There are 125,000 people statewide who are more than 60 days behind in their heating bills from last winter and owe a total of more than $90 million, according to the National Consumer Law Center in Boston. Charles Harak, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, said the state has to act to help poor and elderly households who can't keep up with soaring oil and natural gas prices. "It is somebody's responsibility in government to make sure people in Massachusetts don't freeze," Harak said. President Bush wants to cut spending on the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by 22 percent. The program serves a family of two earning up to $27,380 and a family of four earning up to $41,300. Congresswoman Niki Tsongas has pushed for an expansion of the program, asking congressional leaders to spend $1 billion more than $2.7 billion this fiscal year. In letters to top Democrats, she's argued the number of people eligible nationwide is growing rapidly and demand is at its highest rate in 16 years. Tsongas wants the country to spend $5.1 billion next fiscal year, about $2 billion more than what the president proposed. Sen. Steven Baddour, a Methuen Democrat and committee member, said the Legislature will "find a way" to help poor households cope with spiraling fuel costs. But he added that Washington, D.C., must be involved in any solution, and relief plans must include middle-class homeowners, too. Baddour faulted the Bush administration and Congress for arguing and not agreeing on winter heat and automobile gas price relief. "Everyone is pointing fingers," Baddour said. Right now, 140,000 Massachusetts families are covered by federal fuel assistance. This year, fiscal 2008, the state spent $15 million on fuel assistance, supplementing $124 million from the federal government. If the state approves $15 million this year, that still won't be enough, said Jerrold Oppenheim, an attorney with the Low-Income Energy Affordability Network in Gloucester. "There's a confluence of unhappy trends," Oppenheim said. As oil and gas prices climb, subsidies stagnate. The proposed $15 million state assistance would add about $100 to eligible families' federal subsidy, which under the Bush plan would be about $650 per household. Since it takes about $1,000 to fill an oil tank at $4 a gallon, Oppenheim said, that leaves households short. It takes at least two tanks to get through a winter, three in the Merrimack Valley, Oppenheim said. Harak said the program really needs $50 million more in state money. Advocates are asking for less because they think that's all they can get. "It's a painful strategic decision," Harak said. The Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee is meeting tomorrow to find out why fuel prices are skyrocketing. It'll hear from consumer advocates, Patrick administration officials, oil industry executives, and small business representatives. While state lawmakers have complained of limited resources, Oppenheim hopes they'll agree to help poor people pay for heat. "It's a question of priorities," Oppenheim said.
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