State orders heat aid for needy

LYNN – State regulators are ordering utility companies to increase discounts for low-income customers amid record-breaking electricity and natural gas prices.Monday’s action by the state Department of Utilities (DPU) came as welcome news to Darlene Gallant, director of community service and coordinator of fuel assistance at Lynn Economic Opportunity (LEO), which last winter provided heating assistance to more than 3,500 needy customers in Lynn, Lynnfield, Swampscott, Saugus, Nahant and Wakefield.DPU spokesman Lisa Capone said the decision was made in response to significant increases in prices for electricity and natural gas over the past year. “The DPU ordered electric and gas utility companies to increase discounts for eligible low-income customers by Nov. 1, and directed utilities to strengthen existing programs that help low-income customers pay past due bills,” said Capone, noting the order does not apply to heating oil providers.The order, which comes as a Winter Energy Costs Task Force convened in July by Gov. Deval Patrick and key legislators is considering ways to help residents manage escalating energy costs, could save some gas and electric customers between $75 and $300 on their seasonal fuel bill. Recommendations from that task force are expected in late September.”This winter is expected to bring far higher energy costs for all consumers, but the DPU action will provide a significant measure of relief for our most vulnerable population,” said DPU Chairman Paul Hibbard, noting that high prices have a disproportionate effect on low-income customersThe order also takes steps to expand consumer participation in utility-administered arrearage management plans, and requires a proceeding to increase consumer protections regarding service termination and restoration, according to Capone.At LEO, arrearage management plans are an integral part of the agency’s fuel-assistance service.”Every utility has a different discount formula,” Gallant said Tuesday, explaining that municipal utilities such as Peabody Municipal Light, Reading Light, and Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light are not subject to state regulations and, as a result, not required to offer discounts or arrearage management plans.”Any discount ordered by the state will certainly help our low-income families,” Gallant said. “A third of our clients are elderly, and nearly half are under the 100-percent poverty level, which is $21,000 gross for a family of four.”Gallant, who testified at the DPU hearings over the summer, said one proposal offered a 50-percent discount to low-income customers living at the 100-percent poverty level. Another required that the same customers pay only 25 percent of their outstanding utility bills in order to avoid termination or secure restoration of service. Those customers would also agree to enter into a payment plan.”The 25-percent proposal was realistic. If you owe $3,000 and have to pay 25 percent or $750, that’s something we can help out with at LEO. But we can’t pay $3,000,” Gallant said.Gallant said not all utilities offer the same discounts. “Some people are getting better deals than others,” she said. “You also have to remember that everybody has to have electricity, even if they heat with another fuel source, because without it they can’t power the electrical start-up switch on the burner.”Gallant said LEO often negotiates with National Grid on behalf of low-income customers. “Lots of our people live in subsidized housing and pay their own electrical bill, especially in the elderly housing,” she said, recalling two “horror stories” from the past week.”One lady was on dialysis and had her electricity turned off. National Grid wouldn’t restore it without a doctor’s note, and they wouldn’t accept a note from the woman’s social worker,” said Gallant, adding that the woman purportedly had to pay the doctor $25 for the note. “It was a bad situation because the lady also had to have a breathing treatment with a nebulizer that also ra