( - promoted by ctblogger)
48 hours ago the Malloy Administration announced that their plan for the coming winter is to drop the number of households who will receive fuel assistance from 118,000 households to about 37,000 households.
As a result of federal budget cuts, Connecticut will leave 80,000 lower income households who use electric or gas heat without any aid at all.
The official position, as articulated by OPM Secretary Ben Barnes is that since state law prevents electric and gas utility companies from shutting off service between Nov. 1 and May 1 for failure to their pay bills no one using electricity will freeze to death so State Government will use its funds to exclusively help families who use oil.
Good to know no one will freeze to death, but the net result is that low-income electric and gas users (who mostly reside in our cities, many of whom are low income elderly and who, over all, are predominantly minority) will face almost certain shut off of their utilities in May 2012.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the utility company programs aimed at helping low income families pay their utility bills all require the households to apply for a get a government funded energy assistance grant - something they will not be able to get as a result of Malloy's plan.
So not only will tens of thousands face the prospect that their electricity and gas will be shut off in May but they will be left with utility bills that they will never be able to pay.
Then, when utility companies are left holding the bag, we can be sure that they will be coming in for a rate increase to off-set those bad debts.
Bottom line - thousands of people with no utilities starting in May and the rest of Connecticut's electricity and gas customers facing higher rates to cover the utility company's loses.
One would think this story would be on the front page of every newspaper in the State and leading the evening news but as of now the only media outlet to cover the story is the CTMirror.
Malloy now needs legislative approval to implement his plan.
The legislature's Appropriations, Human Services and Energy and Technology committees will hold a public hearing on the plan on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m., in the Legislative Office Building.
As of now there has been no response - what so ever - from the Democrats in the General Assembly. |
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