[V]ermont heating assistance recipients are on track to receive this winter a benefit that covers roughly the same amount of fuel as they received last year, despite an overall reduction in funds available.
According to the Agency of Human Services, low gas prices coupled with a decline in demand mean that each household will have the same buying power from their annual fuel benefit under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Households got an average benefit of $783 last year, which covered about 273 gallons of fuel — or 36 percent of their average annual fuel costs, according to the AHS.
While the average household benefit declined to $663 this year amid reductions in the federal and state funding for the program, the agency anticipates that the benefit will again pay for 273 gallons, or 36 percent of the fuel households are projected to use in a winter.
“Lower caseloads and significantly lower fuel prices have allowed us to maintain the same buying power for Vermonters without requiring significant state funds,” Department for Children and Families Commissioner Ken Schatz said in a statement. The Economic Services Division of DCF distributes fuel assistance.
Last year, lawmakers cut the state’s $6 million contribution to the largely federally funded program. However, they also directed a portion of excess state revenues from the previous fiscal year to fund the program, with the directive that the purchasing power of the benefit in the 2015-16 heating season not exceed that of the 2014-15 benefit.
This year, Vermont received a total federal contribution of $18.4 million to the LIHEAP, bringing the state’s LIHEAP coffers to a total of $24.3 million. It’s the lowest funding from the feds since 2008, when the state received $16.9 million.
Usage of the program in Vermont is on a downward trend. The state estimates that 24,700 households will receive heating assistance under LIHEAP this year, down from 26,625 last year, when there was $26 million available to fund the program.
“This program is essential in keeping our low-income Vermonter warm throughout the winter,” Secretary of Human Services Hal Cohen said in a statement.
Karen Lafayette, of the Low Income Advocacy Council, noted that the lower fuel prices mean that a lower benefit can provide the same purchasing power as last year.
“All of those things are good,” she said.
However, Lafayette noted that advocates would like to see lawmakers set a commitment to provide state funds to the program — which, in part, allows Vermont to fund recipients whose income is at a higher percentage of the poverty level than the federal threshold.
She and other advocates would also like to see the state commit to funding a greater percentage of a household’s heating needs.
