The United States government has announced plans to make $13.5 billion available to help low-income U.S. households to lower their heating costs this winter.
In a statement issued by the White House, the U.S. Department of Energy will allocate $9 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support up to 1.6 million households in upgrading their homes to lower energy bills.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will provide $4.5 billion in Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Programme (LIHEAP) funding.
U.S. consumers can expect to pay up to 28 per cent more to heat their homes this winter than last year due to surging fuel costs and colder weather, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected in its winter fuels outlook in October.
The new funding will help Americans with heating costs and unpaid utility bills and repairs of home energy appliances that will help lower their energy costs, the White House said.
About 90 per cent of the roughly 130 million U.S. households rely on natural gas or electricity for heat.
The rest use either heating oil, propane or wood for heat.
EIA forecasts the average household will spend about $931 for gas heat this winter and about $1,359 for electric heat. That is a 28 per cent increase for gas and a 10 per cent increase for electricity versus last year.
Homes using heating oil will spend about $2,354 for heat this winter, up 27 per cent from last year, while propane users will see their costs rise five per cent to $1,668, according to EIA’s outlook.
Despite the big increase in cost, gas will remain the nation’s cheapest source of heat.
Families are already having a hard time paying their electric and gas bills with about one in six U.S. households in arrears, according to estimates from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) in October.
NEADA, which represents the state LIHEAP directors, said U.S. families were about $16.1 billion behind on their utility bills.
“The rise in home energy costs this winter will put millions of lower-income families at risk of falling behind on their energy bills and having no choice but to make difficult decisions between paying for food, medicine and rent,” NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe has said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
