N.E. leaders seek more US heating oil aid
Soaring energy costs push governors to ask for $1b this winter
Alarmed by zooming energy costs, four New England governors yesterday called on the federal government to increase the region's home heating assistance to $1 billion, from $252 million last winter.
"We are, all of us, concerned about the high price of fuel and the high price of oil," Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick said following a special session of the New England Governors' Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He was joined by his peers from Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The meeting was held a day after the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources said the average home heating oil price is now $4.71 a gallon.
Last winter, Massachusetts received almost $115 million in federal home heating assistance, and contributed another $15 million on its own, to aid 140,000 low-income households, said Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. State officials were unable to say yesterday how much assistance the state will require next winter.
In Massachusetts alone, almost 1 million homes, or roughly 40 percent of households, are heated with oil. Nationwide, about 8 million homes have oil heat, according to the Energy Information Administration.
"People are anxious," said Maine Governor John E. Baldacci, who chaired the conference. "New England is more tied to home heating oil as a region than any other part of the country."
The governors said they will work together on a regional strategy to deal with what they called a looming energy crisis. That includes pushing for more programs to help low- and middle-income families pay utility bills, exploring alternative and renewable energy options, and possibly collaborating with Canada to import energy.
"The time to act is now," New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said. "We don't want our families to have to face the choice of whether to buy food or fill up the heating oil tank."
In New Hampshire last winter, about $25 million was spent helping 33,000 families with heating costs, Lynch said. To aid that many people this winter, he said, spending would likely have to double.
Baldacci also called for a comprehensive national energy policy and said that nuclear power must be part of the solution, sentiments echoed by Patrick.
"It's going to have to be part of the solution," Patrick said. But with regard to nuclear energy, he added, "The disposal issues are going to have to be solved, and they haven't."
Despite their calls for increased federal aid, the governors cautioned consumers against waiting for help from Washington.
"Governments cannot solve this problem and meet all these challenges alone. Consumers must do their part," Patrick said. "Get a home energy audit."
As part of fees included in utility bills, customers are entitled to such audits, which offer suggestions on how to conserve energy.
NStar, which provides electricity to nearly half of the state's residents, said requests for energy audits increased 40 percent from January to May, when about 2,000 customers asked for an audit.
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.
