Plan to help with heating bills criticized

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By NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press

Melissa Ortiz works 40 hours a week and still has to rely on free food from nonprofits to support her four children and get by month-to-month. But the real financial dread will settle in this winter, along with the cold weather.

She’ll probably do what she did last year after being turned down by the state for assistance paying her winter heating bill because she earned slightly too much money: Bundle up the kids at night, pay just enough each month to keep the heat from being turned off, and rely on the kindness of churches.

“I’ve had to get donations from churches so I don’t get disconnected,” the 28-year-old said.

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If Ortiz lived in any number of other states, her income would likely be low enough to qualify her for the federal program administered by states that provides poor people with millions of dollars to help pay their heating bills.

Only four other states have income requirements that are more restrictive than Nebraska, according to the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest. The group is asking state officials to ease the income restrictions so they are in line with other states.

A public hearing on the income criteria Nebraska uses under the Low Income Energy Assistance program is scheduled for Thursday. Though federal dollars are used, it’s up to states to decide who gets the money.

“It is imperative that Nebraska expands LIHEAP eligibility levels in order to ease hardship and suffering among many low and moderate income Nebraska families,” Erin Ching of Nebraska Appleseed wrote in a letter to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

But state officials say that doing so could actually backfire and hurt the poorest families in the state that make less than people like Ortiz.

“We felt like it was more important to provide a higher level of assistance to the neediest of our citizens rather than increasing the pool of eligible households but diluting the amount of payment assistance,” said Todd Landry, director of children and family services for the state. “The very neediest can continue to get the help they need,” under the current income threshold, “rather than giving a little bit of help,” to more families.

The state expects to receive $18 million from the federal government to distribute to families, but the figure could increase if Congress decides to set aside more money, as it sometimes does.

Landry questioned whether Nebraska’s income cutoff of 116 percent of the federal poverty mark is actually out of line with other states, saying that some states may use their own poverty marks instead of the federal one.

But Ching said her analysis showed that Nebraska’s income cutoff of 116 percent of the federal poverty mark “is significantly lower than levels set in our neighboring states and levels that are set nationally.”

The average for neighboring states, she said in the letter to HHS, is 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

At that percentage, a family of four can qualify if its annual income is less than about $31,800.

In Nebraska, the same family has to makes less than about $24,600. Single adults in Nebraska could qualify if they made less than about $15,600 under Appleseed’s proposal, instead of the current $12,070.

The federal program also helps with cooling costs for people who are 70 years old or older and have a medical condition that makes them susceptible to heat.

On average, families who qualify for the program get $244 for heating assistance. Those who qualify to receive cooling assistance receive an average of $129.

Natural gas prices have dipped recently, and natural gas production is on the increase. But Nebraska officials say they still expect residents will pay more this winter than last.

About 65 percent of Nebraska households use natural gas for heating, according to the Nebraska Energy Office.

“Industry experts say prices could be 20 percent higher this winter compared to last winter,” said Bob McKeon, spokesman for Black Hills Corp. It recently bought Aquila’s natural gas and electric utilities in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. “Customers will pay more than they did last winter, but just how much we don’t know.”