CT legislature OKs emergency heating funds: ‘People heating their homes with their ovens’

With temperatures plummeting across Connecticut, state lawmakers voted Wednesday for $17 million in emergency funding to keep residents warm during the coming cold weeks.

Lawmakers unanimously approved bipartisan legislation for $13.5 million for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program and another $3.5 million for Operation Fuel, a nonprofit that has been helping families with fuel bills for the past 46 years.

The state Senate voted 35-0 with one member absent, while the House of Representatives voted 147-0 with four members absent.

About 58,000 households have already exhausted their allotment this year, and they will be applying now to receive additional money, officials said. Gov. Ned Lamont immediately signed the bill before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and the money will be allotted as quickly as possible.

While low-income customers who use electricity and natural gas cannot be shut off during the winter by the regulated utilities, those receiving fuel deliveries are not protected.

Using unspent federal COVID relief funds, lawmakers said they were stepping up to provide one-time money when the federal government did not provide supplemental funds.

“Due to a shortfall in federal funding, the funding has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the need out there has not,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, a Middletown Democrat who co-chairs the human services committee. “There are families out there who are trying to get through the entire winter on only $180 of heating assistance. It is 21 degrees outside in Hartford today, and $180 just does not go very far in terms of buying heating oil. There are people out there who are struggling.”

Lesser added, “We’re hearing lots of reports of people heating their homes with their ovens, running space heaters, and racking up major electric bills. The need out there is really great, and meanwhile, we had unspent [federal] funds that we’re going to be able to provide real relief starting immediately.”

The money will generally go to families who are already receiving benefits and who automatically qualify if they receive food stamps or other benefits, such as state supplements for the aged, blind and disabled. The maximum income allowed is 60% of the state’s median income, which is $54,338 per couple.

High needs in many districts

Sen. Jorge Cabrera, a Hamden Democrat, told the story of when he was young and his family had left the oven open in their home in the winter.

“I realized that we didn’t have the money to heat our home that particular week,” Cabrera said on the Senate floor. “It dawned on me that people are taking real risks.”

Decades later, Cabrera said Wednesday that he has heard similar instances and “heartbreaking stories” from senior citizens and others in his state Senate district in the Naugatuck Valley.

Sen. Herron Gaston, a Bridgeport Democrat, said he represents a district with many low-income residents who need financial assistance.

“I hear time and time again from constituents that they need help,” Gaston said.

A woman in his district had left her stove on for so long that the fire department told her that she could not stay in the home because the carbon monoxide levels were so high, Gaston said.

“On Valentine’s Day, this is an act of love,” Gaston said of the funding. “This is an act of compassion. … This is a moral call.”

Sen. Ceci Maher, a Wilton Democrat serving her first term, said some lawmakers might be surprised to learn that the needs are present even in affluent Fairfield County.

Sen. Jeff Gordon, a Woodstock Republican, said the money is important in his often-rural district that stretches to towns like Ashford, Chaplin and Eastford.

“More and more people are needing the help,” Gordon said, “especially for those who have any kind of medical condition.”

Senate majority leader Bob Duff of Norwalk said he personally had an oil delivery that was more than $4 per gallon.

“There are a lot of families who cannot pay that bill,” Duff said, adding that it is unhealthy for senior citizens to live in homes that are too cold. “My constituents say, ‘We need help.’ … That’s why we’re here today. … This is something that we have to do today because the need is greater than it had been before. It cannot wait until the budget is done in May. We have to do this today, which is why we have an emergency-certified bill.”

Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford, a major champion of increased fuel funding for years, joined in support. He has repeatedly called for increasing the benefit levels, not just the overall funding.

“I rise, grateful that we are going to do something,” Kelly said on the Senate floor. “Something is always better than nothing. … The people who are going to benefit from this are feeling the dysfunction of Washington, which has funded this in the past. … These families are having a tough time.”

With cold temperatures at times in an up-and-down winter, approved applications had increased by 8.6% over last year by mid-January, and nearly 60% of applicants had already exhausted their benefits. Due to the federal cuts, benefit levels were decreased at a time when demand for assistance increased.

“I understand Washington isn’t doing its job,” Kelly said. “We watch it on the nightly news. … This is a start – by no means, an end. … I wish and hope we can do more.”

Democrats directly blamed the dysfunction on the U.S. House Republicans, but Republicans blamed both sides in Washington, D.C.

“When we speak of dysfunction at the federal level, I think we need to be more specific,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, pointing directly at House Republicans.

But House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said there is enough blame to go around.

“Last I knew, we had a two-party system in the federal government,” Candelora said when asked by The Courant. “So, I wouldn’t deem it a Republican dysfunction. Clearly, it’s a Democrat and Republican dysfunction in Washington.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com