Higher heating prices last winter posed a more “crushing burden” on the state’s low-income population, according to energy-assistance nonprofit Operation Fuel.
The “Home Energy Affordability Gap” — the total amount of home energy bills in excess of what is deemed to be affordable — amounted to $450 million in 2017, up from $399 million a year prior, said Operation Fuel, which commissions an extensive analysis of the subject annually.
“This increase reflects rising home heating prices in particular,” according to the 231-page report, released Wednesday (a particularly chilly day) and prepared by Massachusetts-based Fisher, Sheehan & Colton.
Natural gas heating prices for residential customers were 12 percent higher in March 2017 than March 2016. Fuel oil prices rose even more, by 15 percent, in the October-to-March heating period.
More than 320,000 Connecticut households are at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
For residents in those households, a federal program that goes by the acronym LIHEAP sent $78.7 million to Connecticut in the 2016-2017 heating season, which amounts to 17 percent of the affordability gap, the report said.
