Heating Bills Going Up
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 – Household heating bills in the Northeast are expected to increase more than $300 this winter, an Energy Information Administration report said Wednesday.
The impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and a slightly colder weather forecast have increased the projected average heating expenditure per household in the northeast to $1,353 for natural gas and $1,607 for heating oil this winter.
Last winter, natural gas and heating oil expenditures were $1,029 and $1,237 respectively.
“Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is still a big concern,” said Jonathan Cogan, an energy information specialist at the agency. “The United States gets one-fifth of all its natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and we’re still missing 60 percent of [the Gulf’s] production.”
For the upcoming winter, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has forecasted slightly cooler temperatures from last year based on heating degree days, which are a measure that help determine heating cost estimates, according to the Energy Information Administration, which is an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects a 0.4 percent colder winter in the lower 48 states, in terms of heating degree-days, relative to normal winter weather, which would be 3.2 percent colder than last winter,” the Energy Information Administration said in its report.
“The weather is an area of uncertainty anytime you do a forecast,” Cogan said. “In the Northeast, the report is that there is equal chance of having a higher or lower consumption rate, depending on the weather. It’s a coin flip.”
The report said that heating expenditures could vary significantly if colder or warmer temperatures prevail. If the weather is colder, households in the northeast could pay as much as $1,518 for natural gas and $1,929 for heating oil.
The report caused a quick response from several senators on Capitol Hill, who have been pressing the Bush Administration to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program during the past few months.
The program helps lower-income, elderly and disabled residents pay their heating bills.
On Wednesday, Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, joined a group of bipartisan senators from the Northeast requesting additional funding, in a letter addressed to two Bush administration officials.
The letter, addressed to Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, and Joshua Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, requested that the administration provide an additional $3.1 billion in emergency funding, a goal that several senators have been pursuing with no success in the last few weeks
While up to $5.1 billion can be spent on the program, the Senate is currently planning on spending $2.183 billion.
Last week, Mr. Kerry introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill in the Senate that would have increased the actual funding to the maximum, but the amendment failed after a procedural measure prevented the Senate from voting on it.
In Wednesday’s letter, the senators expressed concern over the Energy Information Administration’s report, citing it as a reason to increase funding for the program, which is also known as LIHEAP.
“To date, the [Bush] administration has indicated that it does not intend to seek additional funding for LIHEAP,” the letter said. “As today’s report from the Energy Information Administration pointed out, the warning has been issued. We can all foretell the next disaster facing American families.. We believe the answer is to provide $5.1 billion in LIHEAP assistance and we hope that you will work with us to secure this funding.”
The letter also cited a National Energy Assistance survey of funding recipients, which said that 73 percent of recipients reported that they reduced expenses for household necessities because they did not have enough money to pay their energy bills and 24 percent of recipients reported having used their stove or oven to provide heat.
To qualify for the program, a household’s gross income may not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. A family of four, for example, would have to have an income below $38,700 to qualify. In 2005, the average recipient received $318 in assistance.
