Governor launches energy task force
Seeks ways to help residents cope
Governor Patrick and the leaders of the House and Senate are forming a task force to develop a plan to help citizens manage sky-high energy costs this winter - in part by getting them to embrace inexpensive energy-saving measures the state is already promoting.
The nine-member panel will spend two months considering ways to get people to carpool or take the T or to weatherize their homes. The panel also intends to coordinate with community organizations to create safety nets for people who cannot afford to heat their homes.
"People are feeling anxious about skyrocketing energy prices, and I share their concern," Patrick said in a statement. "The pinch will become tighter when the temperature drops and furnaces turn on. To avoid a crisis this winter, we need to do everything we can do now to help our citizens protect themselves against rising costs."
The average Massachusetts household is expected to spend more than $3,750 on heating oil this winter, compared with $1,800 just two winters ago. Since the winter of 2005-'06, the price of home heating oil has jumped 87 percent to $4.71 a gallon, according to the governor's office.
"It's going to be a hard winter for Massachusetts consumers with the cost of home heating oil having gone up so dramatically," said Ian A. Bowles, the state's secretary of energy and environmental affairs. "We in state government need to get mobilized now. I also think it's an opportunity to mobilize the outside parties - church groups, foundations, community organizations - recognizing that state government can only address a certain piece of the puzzle."
But one community activist said the state's heating assistance has been unreliable and will remain so if the state establishes a trust fund, as is being discussed, rather than budgeting funds annually to help people heat their homes. New England winters should not come as a surprise, said Robert M. Coard, president and chief executive officer of Action for Boston Community Development.
"I don't want to discourage politicians when they try to do good things," Coard said, "but we can't keep on this trust business. We've been delivering assistance for fuel in this climate for about 30 years."
The governor recently proposed $20 million for heat assistance in a supplemental budget, rather than the base annual spending plan. The Legislature has not yet taken action on that measure.
Massachusetts is still hoping for an increase from the federal government, which runs the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program but has reduced its spending in recent years. The federal aid would now help a homeowner with $503 of the cost of heat this winter, compared with $1,165 in federal and state aid last winter, Coard said.
The six New England governors recently asked the federal government to provide the region with $1 billion - up from $267 million - for heating assistance. And a delegation of New England lawmakers recently asked Congress for $9 billion in aid and to expand eligibility.
House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and the Republican leaders of each chamber will each appoint one legislator to the task force. The Patrick administration appointed Bowles; Leslie Kirwan, the state's secretary of administration and finance; Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of health and human services; Daniel O'Connell, secretary of housing and economic development; and Bernard Cohen, secretary of transportation and public works. 