Fuel Poverty grows in Jersey!
President threatens to veto LIHEAP increase!
In the Northeast, it will cost the typical family $2,725 to heat their home with heating oil this year, a 37 percent jump from the prior year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting a “numbing” winter, with below-average temperatures for at least two-thirds of the country. Only the Far West and Southeast will see near-normal temperatures. Few, if any, locations will enjoy many above-normal temperature days this upcoming season. The National Weather Service is predicting milder but still a chilly winter. Either way this could be a costly winter in NJ. The Star-Ledger had an article yesterday that highlights the potential problems. Click here to read the article.
Either way more and more families are approaching fuel poverty. This is a phrase first used in the United Kingdom a decade ago. It refers to denote families that used more than 10% of their income to pay for home energy costs. Market Watch did a detailed article about “fuel poverty” earlier this month. To read the article click here.
The article notes that:
Rising energy prices are nothing new. What is new for some households is the combination of steep increases in heating and cooling bills along with an economic downturn, job cuts, higher food costs and mortgage woes. This confluence of factors has helped pushed more families across more income levels into an uncertain position when it comes to paying their energy bills,
There is a growing consensus that energy burdens will increasingly be felt by families not traditionally viewed as “poor,” namely middle-income families that will need to stretch to pay sharply higher bills this winter.
With this forecast in store for all of us, President Bush has threatened to veto additional home energy assistance funding for low-income households this winter. Without the additional funding, which is needed to offset a 40 percent increase in home heating costs, large numbers of low-income Americans will suffer extensive hardship this winter. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities “The Senate recently considered a bill (S. 3186) to provide $2.5 billion in additional funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to offset the sharp rise in energy prices this winter. President Bush, however, has threatened to veto the bill, arguing that the additional funding is not needed and that the bill would increase the deficit.”
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