Needy families find heat turned off in May

Needy families find heat turned off in May

http://www.telegram.com/article/20080512/NEWS/805120593/1116

Over 11,500 apply for fuel assistance in Worcester

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Monday, May 12, 2008

WORCESTER, MA. — The first of May means May baskets to some people, cold nights to others.

It’s the day when the weather is considered warm enough for utility companies to safely turn off the heat, electricity or gas in homes of low-income clients who have not paid their bills. At the Worcester Community Action Council, that has meant an influx of people seeking assistance. That agency and other community action organizations are asking the state Senate to include a line item in their fiscal 2009 budget to fund home heating emergencies. It isn’t that the state hasn’t helped before — in November, the Legislature passed a supplemental budget of $15 million for fuel assistance — it’s just that it’s hard to plan for the amount, according to WCAC Executive Director Jill C. Dagilis. A line item would let agencies plan earlier.

“These are cyclical crises, and ... given the fuel cost, I don’t see a short-term fix here. We really need the state and our federal government to stay with us," Ms. Dagilis said. “The next step is building this right into the budget.”

The need for assistance is greater than ever, she said. More than 11,500 people have applied for federally-supported fuel assistance through her agency since November, and more than 10,000 have qualified. The agency also expects to reach or surpass the 1,530 emergency utility clients it had last year, each of whom had lost or was about to lose their fuel, electricity or gas.

Statewide, more than 125,000 low-income households have overdue gas and electric bills averaging $750 per household, according to Joe Diamond, executive director of the Massachusetts Association for Community Action.

The amount that low-income households owe is up 10 percent to 15 percent around the state, and some utility companies project that residential shut-offs could increase 20 percent to 50 percent, according to Charlie Harak, a senior staff lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center’s Boston office.

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Many people are on the cusp of qualifying, and the agency tries to help them with funding from United Way and Northbridge-based Unibank and with help from Boston-based Citizens Energy. The Salvation Army also has a fuel assistance program. Cash donations from United Way and Unibank enable WCAC to pay one month of a client’s highest utility bill and work out a payment program with the utility, Ms. Dagilis said. Many times the company will forgive part of the customer’s debt if the customer consistently pays a minimal amount.

It doesn’t always work out in long run.

“Because of the overall cost of housing and fuel and food, many people still fall back into the financial crisis,” Ms. Dagilis said. “I’m worried as an administrator trying to deal with what I describe as an ocean of need.”

People looking for fuel assistance range from families with children to the elderly, and they sometimes try dangerous things to keep the house warm, such as putting a tent over a stove to channel the heat, Ms. Dagilis said.

Heat isn’t the only critical utility that can be turned off. If the electricity gets turned off, people can’t use their refrigerators and can’t cook, she noted. Her agency sometimes finds people using coolers after the electricity has been turned off.

“From the health perspective, heat and food are two core developmental needs for children,” she said, noting that cold puts infant development at higher risk.

The agency has partnered with hospitals and public health workers around the utility issue. “This is not just a one silo kind of solution,” she said.