WASHINGTON, DC - With a new report showing that U.S. consumers will pay increasingly high prices for heating oil, electricity, propane, and natural gas to heat their homes this winter, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today called on President Bush to immediately release the remaining $151.5 million in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) contingency fund. If the Administration fails to release the remaining funding, $131 million of that balance will expire at the end of the week on September 30, 2007.

"Congress has given President Bush the ability to help thousands of working families and seniors. This money will provide real assistance for people who continue to struggle with record high energy prices," said Reed. "In Rhode Island, nearly 30,000 households rely on LIHEAP to assist with the costs of heating their homes each year and to pay delinquent utilities bills so they can re-establish service. The Administration should release this funding now rather than leaving families out in the cold this winter."

LIHEAP is a federal block grant program that provides states with annual funding to operate home energy assistance programs for low-income households. In addition to helping to pay energy bills for low-income families and the elderly, LIHEAP helps to fund energy crisis intervention programs, low-cost residential weatherization and other energy-related home repairs, and can provide life-saving heating and cooling assistance to the elderly and disabled. Each year, almost 5 million low-income families rely on LIHEAP to assist with the costs of heating and/or cooling their homes.

According to today's report by the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association (NEADA) heating fuel expenses this winter will be highest for heating oil, with the average family paying $1,834 for the season, an increase of $402, or 28 percent from last year. NEADA projects that propane costs will average $1,732 this winter, up $384, or 30 percent over 2006. The group also expects that consumers who rely on electricity to heat their homes will pay an average of $883 this winter, an increase of $58, or 7 percent. NEADA also projects that natural gas expenses are likely to rise, with the average family paying $881 this winter, a $50 increase, or 5 percent more than average expenditures last year.

"The recent spike in energy prices has caused more families to fall behind on their energy bills. NEADA's most recent survey estimates that at least 1.2 million households nationwide have been disconnected from electric and natural gas service during the three-month period following the end of state shutoff moratoriums," noted Reed. "I strongly urge the President to release the federal energy assistance which Congress has approved to provide relief to millions of low-income families and seniors."

In Rhode Island there have been over 20,000 utility shutoffs for non-payment between January and the end of August 2007, the highest level for that period in a decade.