Wholesale changes this year in Pennsylvania’s annual heating-aid program seem designed to make every needy homeowner and utility stakeholder hot under the collar.
Maybe it’s part of some secret plan to keep low-income families warm this winter?
The changes make little sense, otherwise. No wonder they’ve sparked widespread criticism from utility company officials and low-income advocates alike.
Even with more federal aid money in the pipeline now than in previous years, the state intends to open applications for grants one month later than normal, and then close them two weeks early. That will shorten the aid season by six weeks.
Nor will householders be able to combine two grants to head off a utility shutoff, as was long-permitted. Gas and electric utility customers also could be shortchanged by the timetable, while heating-oil and propane users move up in line for aid.
Less aid for poor customers of struggling Philadelphia Gas Works means other consumers will pay a larger subsidy to make up for the shortfall. The utility’s overall financial health could suffer.
The plan for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) designed by the state Department of Public Welfare is being described as “simply an attempt to be able to stretch the dollars as far as possible.”
Welfare officials contend their conservative approach is warranted, but Congress is widely expected to boost heating-aid funding from reduced levels requested in President Obama’s budget.
DPW says the LIHEAP rules will be loosened if and when Congress acts. But at three recent public hearings — and in legal filings from advocates and the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) — welfare officials were besieged with compelling pleas to fix the flawed plan now.
The PUC offers the best suggestion: Just put it back the way it was last year. Under those terms, low-income households earning sightly more than the poverty level could seek heating-aid grants as of Nov. 1. They’ll also be able to pair a regular cash grant with a so-called crisis grant to get heat restored or avoid a shutoff.
The PUC rightly suggests that other proposed changes to the LIHEAP plan need further discussion. And Community Legal Services attorneys note that it would make sense to use all the heating-aid funds for grants, rather than diverting money to weatherization programs that are flush this year with federal stimulus funds.
The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting the usual winter chill for the Northeast, so it makes sense to get the right LIHEAP plans in place now — even at the risk of cooling the critics’ tempers.
Maybe the editorial board of the papers have to face that LIHEAP was found to be used fraudulently and that these controls are being put in place to make mass theft like that harder to do. Remember the Costa Rican Wedding of the DPW employee who had multiple grants and checks sent to her address? Remember the DPW family members who were getting thousands in multiple payments from various grants? Denial of all this recent history hurts your own journalistic cred. There's got to be a call for responsible spending and controls if you really want voters to continue to support LIHEAP at all.— CleanupPhilly
 | Join on Facebook |  | Follow on Twitter |
- Brendan Calling
- City Howl
- City Paper's "The Clog"
- Commonwealth Confidential
- Daily Kos
- Heard in the Hall
- HuffPost
- Inquirer Editorial & Commentary
- Judges on Merit
- Metropolis
- The Pennsylvania Policy Blog
- Phawker
- Plan Philly
- phillyist
- philadelphia will do
- Philly Clout
- Philly Post
- Qewz: News in Perspective
- Trudy Rubin
- School Notebook
- Talking Points
- WHYY It's Our City
- Will Bunch/Attytood
- Young Philly Politics
- Dick Polman
- NewsWorks
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
