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Beebe calls on feds to increase energy assistance funding Friday, Jan 25, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau NORTH LITTLE ROCK - Shortly after heart surgery forced full-time student Teresa Carver to cut back on the 70-hour work week she maintained to support two children and a grandchild living with her, her energy company sent her a shut-off notice. "The bill was only $182, and that may not seem like a fortune to someone else but it was a fortune at that time," Carver, a single mom from Van Buren. "I would have never been able to get that caught back up because it's a domino effect" of late fees, reconnection fees and new deposit fees, she said. Carver turned to her local community action agency for assistance from the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Within two days, the program paid the bill. "It was tremendous. It meant the world to me and my family," Carver said at a a news conference Thursday at which community action officials and Gov. Mike Beebe urged Congress to increase funding for the program. Beebe declared Jan. 30 as Arkansas LIHEAP day to call attention to a greater need for funding to help more Arkansas families. Last year, the program, which works on a first-come, first-served basis, benefited about 30 percent of eligible Arkansas families, or about 65,000 households. This year, Arkansas received nearly $13 million in funding, which officials estimate will benefit 35 percent of all eligible Arkansans. Entergy Arkansas President Hugh McDonald, who also attended the news conference, said one in five of the company's customers live at or below the federal poverty level. Nationally, the program benefits about 16 percent of those eligible with a total of $2.6 billion, about $409 million more than last year. Community action agency officials in Arkansas say the funding formula gives an advantage to northern states, where the cold-weather season is longer and harsher. "They need not forget that there are just as many opportunities for danger sometimes with the summer in the South as there are in the North with the winter activities," Beebe said. Next week, advocates from across the country, including some from Arkansas, plan to converge on Washington, D.C., to encourage Congress to increase funding for the program by $800 million. The funding could be tacked onto the economic stimulus plan Congress is currently considering, Beebe said. The $800 million would be split, with one-half going to be base formula that would benefit states in the South and the other half going to an emergency relief fund that helps Northern states, according to Rose Adams, executive director of the Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association. Last week, the Bush administration released $450 million in emergency relief funds for the program to help low-income households in Northern states afford record home heating oil prices. In a letter to President Bush late last year, several senators cited information from the Energy Information Administration that said households could expect to pay 10 percent to 22 percent more for heating fuels this winter than last, and home heating prices are expected to reach almost $1,000 per household this year. Arkansans living at or below the federal poverty level typically spend about 15 percent of their income on energy costs compared to about 3 percent for all other households, according to Beebe's office. ------- The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
