Governor Janet Mills is seeking additional federal funding for heating assistance this winter, telling federal officials she has “serious concern” that residents can afford to heat their homes.
In a letter to the secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Energy on Friday, Mills noted that Maine is the most oil-dependent state in the nation, with 60% of homes heated by oil, compared to the national average. by 4 percent.
That, coupled with Maine’s reliance on oil delivered by truck and its old housing stock, creates unique challenges for residents.
“These conditions make Maine significantly vulnerable to rising prices and volatility in the global fossil fuel market,” Mills said in the letter, which was also sent to the state’s congressional delegation.
Heatable driver Paul Sabato delivers oil to a Scarborough home last October. Governor Janet Mills sent a letter to the federal government on Friday requesting additional funding for the Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program to help Mainers pay for oil deliveries. Gregory A. Recreational/Personal Photographer
Mills also asked federal officials to expand eligibility for its low-income housing energy assistance program to those who may not have needed it in the past, as prices are expected to remain high throughout the winter.
Assistance through LIHEAP is limited to low-income families, with income caps ranging from $30,860 per year for a single person, $59,348 for a family of four to $85,461 for a family of 10. Mills did not offer a specific proposal to expand eligibility.
The request comes the same day U.S. oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported record second-quarter profits. Exxon Mobil made $17.85 billion in profit in the second quarter, while Chevron made $11.62 billion, according to The Associated Press.
Mills said the average home heating oil price was nearly $5 a gallon in June, down from a high of more than $6 a gallon earlier this year. Yet those prices are the highest on record since the state began tracking fuel oil prices 15 years ago. Mills attributed the high oil prices to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year around this time, heating oil was about half the current price at $2.58 a gallon, according to the governor’s office of energy.
Maine typically receives about $40 million in heating assistance for LIHEAP, which Mills says helps between 35,000 and 40,000 households.
Last year, the state received an additional $55 million for LIHEAP, under the American Rescue Plan Act. That was enough to provide a tank and a half of fuel oil on average per household, Mills said. Without additional help, she said the program would only be able to provide households with half a tank of oil on average.
“For vulnerable households in Maine, it’s the difference between having heating security in our coldest months for maybe just days or weeks, instead of months,” Mills said.
Mills described steps the state is taking to switch to renewable energy, cool homes, and install more than 60,000 high-efficiency heat pumps. But the state needs additional short-term help as it pursues its long-term climate goals, she said.
“Even with this progress, we must take action to help Maine residents with the record high energy prices they will face this winter,” she said.
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