Affording Fuel Oil Requires Short- and Long-term Solutions

By Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine

Though it’s the middle of summer and we’re all trying to keep cool right now, the inevitable truth is that winter is on its way and the cost of heating our homes has reached record high levels. For many Central and Northern New Yorkers, especially families and anyone on a fixed income, the increased cost will present some serious challenges and hard choices.

This is a serious problem. Now is the time to act. The federal government has to step up and significantly increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP.  The president can help by releasing the remaining $120 million in the LIHEAP contingency fund and then Congress could pitch in with an increase to funding levels for the winter. At the state level, we must take this money and double the average LIHEAP benefit, providing up to $1,000 for a family of four earning up to $45,000.

We need to start first with those in the greatest need. These prices will push many further into debt, or worse, it could force some to choose between heat and food. The rising cost could also prompt some people to bring back an old wood stove or use space heaters in dangerous situations, increasing the odds of a tragic accident. Immediate action at both the state and federal levels is necessary to help many pay their bills and possibly even save lives.

Middle income families are also feeling the pinch so we have also proposed creating a Middle Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or MIHEAP, to provide a few hundred dollars in relief that would be paid for through the sale of carbon permits auctioned off as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

These programs are short term solutions to help many New Yorkers pay the bills this winter, but it will not affect the price of fuel or the amount used. For that, we need long term solutions. These include programs to help make homes more energy efficient and incentives to expand green technologies. With a long term outlook on this issue we can reduce what we pay for heating and cooling our homes while also creating jobs.

My colleagues and I have proposed a large-scale investment in “weatherization” and home improvements that will reduce energy use for families in Central and Northern New York, while also creating jobs. Using a model that has been successful in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island for more than 10 years, we can offer home energy audits and tax-exempt financing for efficiency-certified home improvements.

By providing an average of $2,800 to single family households and $1,700 per unit for apartments to make improvements that net a 20 to 40 percent cut in energy use, we can stimulate the economy, save money for consumers, and reduce the environmental impact of homes and apartments in the region. These upfront payments would be paid for through bonds and reimbursed by the homeowner on their utility bill over time.

Increasing the demand for home improvements is not the only area where we can turn rising energy prices into jobs for our economy. With so many opportunities for green energy production and environmentally sustainable products—just look at Northeast Biofuels, the Metropolitan Development Association’s “Green Team,” and the number of natural resources we have here—we must foster the proper business environment to develop and sustain real growth in these markets.

We need a 21st Century Energy Policy that encourages reliance on wind and hydropower, the development of a super-efficient energy grid, and the development of alternative fuels. This policy must work at the consumer level with incentives to buy green and at the producer level by focusing our economic development efforts on green industries to create real jobs in the region that cannot be outsourced. Plus, increased production of alternative energy sources will help create competition in the marketplace to help lower the cost of more conventional energy sources.

With the right decision now we can get through this winter by providing immediate help to those who need it most, and follow that over the next few years by turning the difficulties we face as a nation into economic development in Central and Northern New York. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity.

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