Oil heat could cost Massachusetts homes $920 more this winter as governors seek $3 billion in aid

SOUTH COAST Massachusetts homes that heat with oil could pay about $920 more this winter, a national group of state energy aid directors estimates, and New England's six governors are asking Congress for more help.

In a letter dated Monday, Nov. 9, Gov. Maura Healey and the governors of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont asked the leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees for an additional $3 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which pays part of the winter heating bill for eligible households. The money would bring the program to $7 billion, and the governors wrote that it could come through a larger yearly budget or a one-time emergency spending bill.

The federal program is the money behind fuel assistance, the help South Coast households apply for each winter through PACE in New Bedford and Citizens for Citizens in Fall River and Taunton. PACE notes on its program page that "benefit levels are dependent on funding allocated to Massachusetts by the US Department of Health and Human Services."

What heating oil could cost

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents the state officials who run the program, projected in a Sept. 28 release that the average Massachusetts household heating with oil will spend about $2,870 this winter, up from about $1,950 last winter, a rise of about 47% by our arithmetic. Across the Northeast the association put the increase at about 50%, up from the 31.3% it had projected a few weeks earlier, and it counted about 679,200 Massachusetts households that heat with oil.

The association blamed the wars in Iran and Ukraine, which it said have disrupted petroleum markets and pushed heating oil prices sharply higher, and it noted that heating oil generally follows the price of diesel, a fuel made from the same part of the refining process. A warmer winter, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects, would cut demand, the release said, but the group still expects prices to stay high because of global supply shortages.

"A 50 percent increase in heating costs is simply too much for a family living paycheck to paycheck to absorb," Mark Wolfe, the association's executive director, said in the release.

Residential heating oil averaged $6.176 a gallon in Massachusetts on Monday, Nov. 2, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, against $3.630 a year earlier, and the agency lists its next weekly figures for Thursday, Nov. 12.

What the governors wrote

The governors wrote that New England's cold winters, older housing and "a heavy reliance on delivered heating fuel leave families especially exposed" to rising prices. Citing the directors' association, they said low-income households across the Northeast could face nearly $1.1 billion in added heating oil costs this winter.

"At current funding levels, rising energy prices will erode the purchasing power of LIHEAP assistance, forcing states to reduce benefits or serve fewer eligible households when the need is greatest," the letter says. The governors wrote that their states are also spending on energy efficiency and weatherization but that those efforts "cannot fully offset the immediate financial pressures facing families this winter."

The letter went to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro and to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins and Vice Chair Patty Murray. Its other signers are Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Janet Mills of Maine, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Dan McKee of Rhode Island and Phil Scott of Vermont.

Who on the South Coast heats with oil

About 21% of the occupied homes in the 18 cities and towns PACE and Citizens for Citizens serve heat with oil, by our count from Census Bureau estimates, from about seven in 10 homes in Berkley and two in three in Rehoboth to about one in 20 in Fall River. Heating oil, town by town.

How to apply for help

Fuel assistance covers every heating source, including oil, gas, electricity, propane, kerosene, wood and coal, with payments made directly to the heating company, and this season runs from Nov. 1 through April 30, 2027, according to PACE. Household income cannot exceed 60% of the state's estimated median income, which PACE lists as $53,585 for one person and $103,049 for a family of four. The application is free, and PACE warns residents to beware of scams that charge an "application fee" to help.

PACE serves New Bedford, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester from 255 Union St. in New Bedford, open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays with walk-ins welcome, at 508-525-4271, and new applicants can apply online at toapply.org/PACE.

Citizens for Citizens serves Fall River, Freetown including Assonet, Rehoboth, Swansea, Somerset, Seekonk, Westport, Taunton, Berkley, Dighton and Lakeville, with offices at 250 Griffin St. in Fall River and 1 Taunton Green in Taunton. Its numbers are 508-679-0041 for greater Fall River and 508-823-6346 for greater Taunton, and it says an application usually takes six to eight weeks to process from Nov. 1 or the date the application is complete, whichever is later.

Some middle-income households that heat with oil may also qualify for a separate one-time state benefit. Who qualifies for the state oil heat benefit.

What happens next

Any added money needs a vote of Congress, either in a yearly spending bill or an emergency bill, as the letter lays out.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.