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Aug 4, 2008 6:45 pm US/Eastern
Home Heating Cost Pose Big Problem For Many
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
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Joann says during the winter, she keeps her thermostat set to 67 or 68 and wears extra layers of clothes such as sweatshirts.
WBZ
A new UMass report called "Heat Rises" is highlighting just how many families could be left out in the cold this winter.
When Joann Lee goes down to the basement and looks at her oil furnace, she says she dreads paying the heating bills this winter. At 74, widowed, she lives alone on a fixed income in a modest but nicely-kept home in Worcester that still has a mortgage. She's applying for a heating subsidy this year. "If that doesn't come through, I'll be just as cold as I was last year."
Joann says she keeps her thermostat set to 67 or 68 and wears extra layers of clothes such as sweatshirts.
One hundred sixty-three thousand Bay State families, or households, will struggle to pay heating oil bills this year. Forty-two percent of them will not be eligible for heating assistance, according to the UMass Donahue Institute.
Jill Dagilis, Executive Director of the Worcester Community Action Council, says the agency is seeing people in crisis. "We are definitely bracing for another very difficult year and probably a third record-breaking year in a row."
Last year, W.C.A.C. was able to provide heating assistance to 10,000 of the 11,000 people who applied in 37 central Massachusetts communities. Will there ultimately be more people who are cold this winter? Will there ultimately be more people who are cold this winter? asked WBZ's Ron Sanders, "Yes. I believe so," said Dagilis.
The Donahue Institute report says nearly two-thirds of the households struggling to pay their oil heat bills will have severe difficulty paying those bills. Almost two-thirds of those severely burdened households are headed by people over the age of 60. Joann Lee says she's cut down on driving, going to the movies or out to eat to pay for heat. "I don't go visit my kids as much as I did."
While Joann is concerned about staying warm here this winter, she is also worried for the many other people in her situation or worse. "Even if I'm just making it, I making it by the grace of God. I have to look at them and say, 'there but for the grace of God go I."
The Donahue Institute report conservatively forecasts Massachusetts households heating with oil or gas will pay about 30 percent more this year than last.
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