BANGOR, Maine — A few weeks later than normal, federal funds to help low-income Mainers stay warm this winter are now in the state pipeline, although the delivery of oil may come later than in the past for some who have anxiously watched as temperatures drop and their fuel tanks run dry.
Late last week, MaineHousing released the first round of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, payments, which will help 19,000 Mainers put oil in their tanks.
In recent weeks, MaineHousing and Penquis, a community action program that processes applications for LIHEAP assistance, have been swamped with calls from people who qualified for the program and have been wondering where their oil is, according to spokeswomen for the agencies.
“It is getting colder at night, and people are waiting for their benefits,” said Deborah Turcotte, spokeswoman for MaineHousing. She said MaineHousing didn’t receive its funding for LIHEAP until mid-November, which is a few weeks later than it arrived last year. The agency received $34.9 million but expected $38.5 million. The federal government is withholding the final 10 percent in case of sequestration of the budget at the end of the year.
Sequestration is the automatic, across-the-board cuts that will go into effect Jan. 2, 2013, if Congress fails to reach an agreement on budget cuts required under the federal Budget Control Act of 2011, which allowed the country to raise the debt limit.
So far, MaineHousing has sent out $10.7 million to heating oil companies that will now begin working to deliver oil to the 19,000 already-approved LIHEAP recipients. The average benefit for recipients this year is $556, according to Turcotte.
Once MaineHousing releases the money, there’s little either it or the community action programs can do to rush oil to recipients. People who are concerned about when they might receive their oil may contact their oil delivery company, according to Jennifer Giosia, director of energy and housing services for Penquis, which serves Penobscot, Piscataquis and Knox counties.
“The money has started flowing in,” Giosia said, adding that oil companies are beginning to deliver fuel to their customers, including LIHEAP recipients. She said she thinks concern about the economy and federal budget issues is causing more people to worry that they might not be able to heat their homes.
Penquis has covered a portion of heating costs for nearly 4,000 low-income residents in the past week, but it has received more than 8,000 applications. The community action program has just 10 employees scattered across the counties to interview each of these applicants. Penquis expects to serve 11,000 homes throughout the winter.
MaineHousing expects that by the end of the winter, 64,000 households will have been screened to determine if they are LIHEAP-eligible. It expects about 55,000 to qualify. Nine community action programs in the state process applications for LIHEAP funding, and the large majority of those applicants need to be interviewed in person.
The community action programs in the state have limited resources, Turcotte said, and processing requests takes time.
Those who need emergency fuel assistance may contact their oil company to see if it can deliver ahead of schedule, but some companies charge an extra fee to do so. People who can’t afford to fill their oil tanks also may go to their town office to see if they can receive general assistance, their local community action program to see if they qualify for emergency funding, or to local churches, according to Turcotte and Giosia.
Community action programs in Maine will continue fielding applications for heating assistance through April, according to Turcotte.
“We hear daily from people who are struggling to keep warm, and we empathize with them,” Turcotte said, adding that the agencies were working as quickly as possible to meet people’s needs now that MaineHousing has funding.
Jen will always tell it like it is. The fact of the matter is: how much administrative money is taken off? Charlie Newton a man who redefined job descriptions with in the Agency and concluded that in order to have his own job, a Master’s degree was necessary. (At that time, he didn’t have one) Good luck Jen, Help those who need help, but pay Charlie first.
well thank god we can borrow money from China to buy oil from Canada and Mexico…what would these people do without public debt?
Freeze
There are actually people like my 80 year old mother who worked her entire life,has never wasted a dollar, and needs this assistance because the government keeps messing with the Social Security money that she contributed for years. Don’r categorize everybody.
People like your mother I have absolutely no problem whatsoever in helping out, my parents are in the same boat.
The leaches that can smoke, drink and buy flatscreen TV’s while on the government dole, not so much.
Wait a minute Jack. We have a very cozy deal with the communist Chinese. We GIVE them our jobs, and they LEND us their money. Don’t rock that boat.
How many people looking for oil heat assistance now, were going out and blowing money on fireworks last summer..instead of putting money aside to buy heat.
I bought a 50″ LED TV last summer to replace the 36″ that I had. Only $895 on sale. Sure, I could have planned ahead and saved the money to stay warm this winter, but I really wanted it and the kids love it.
So…now that I can’t afford oil, you’ll help me out right?
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Yes I could have got a second job last summer and put the money away for oil this winter, but that would be a drag. Besides, you can afford to heat your house and mine right?
Well you did buy the TV which helped keep Korean’s working and provided Maine with $44.75 in sales tax so it is fair and just that we buy your oil for you. Now go get that snow sled tuned up and ready to go.
Last April to June, i saved money to buy oil heat in June.In late June i went into BOB’s Cash Fuel and bought oil for now. I did not/could not have done that if i bought fireworks,booze,pot.
Luckily, my property i put up for sale 3 years ago finally sold this month, so i can get my arse out of this freeloaders state.
Good luck living in a state when the handouts come to an end.
Don’t be so quick to paint everyone who gets this assistance with the same broad brush. I pay my own mortgage and taxes. I don’t get food stamps. I get LIHEAP and am grateful for it. Last year I got $419, which paid for less than one full tank. It took me all summer to pay my bill. I paid it off in September, just in time to start all over again with October’s delivery. I won’t apologize for taking this money so long as we have a president who, through his warped ideology about “sustainable fuel”, continues to wage war on the research and development of our own domestic resources (which are greater than those of Saudi Arabia). Obama slashed millions from the LIHEAP program last year, with absolutely no regard for people like me, retired and living on a fixed income, who would rather pay their own way but can’t, all because of president who continues to throw millions down the rat hole of “green” energy. I feel badly for the thousands of Mainers who have lost their jobs or had their hours cut and are just trying to provide for their families. It saddens me to know that there are people out there who fit into the category you describe. You need to understand that not all of us do.
I am not painting everyone with a broad brush. Just layabout people who blew money on fireworks,set them off when working people were trying to sleep for work,now want free heat. We all know in Maine small towns, which houses in the neighborhood are welfare houses—these are the bums that were setting them off every night last summer.Now these bums will get free heat.
I should have clarified that I don’t include retired or elderly in the analogy. That is who the assistance should be for, they’ve earned it.
Still no talk about getting the wages up so people can afford to buy their own heating oil.
“The average benefit for recipients this year is $556”
People who bought fireworks last summer were bragging with smiling faces how they bought hundred of dollars at the fireworks store, they cant wait to set them off.
Now many of these same people are abusing the system by collecting $556, taking away the amount the elderly and poor people that are truly in need are going to receive .