During the holidays, the Public Utility Commission released the results of its annual Cold Weather Survey. The report indicates that 22,025 households in Pennsylvania have entered winter without heat or are using an unsafe heating source.
While these numbers are improvements from last year, Patrick Cicero, Director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP) says that these numbers remain alarmingly high:
“I am particularly troubled that we continue to see such high numbers year over year. While some ground has been gained in the number of households who enter winter without electric service, we continue to have almost 7,000 households without a central heating source due to termination of their electricity in 2016. Additionally, the number of households who are without central heat because of a loss of gas service is higher than last year and is more than 15,000. In my view, this is a clear indication that additional support is needed to address the gap in universal utility services to the state’s most vulnerable individuals. No household should enter winter without heat or a safe source of heat; the fact that thousands of our fellow Pennsylvanian’s are forced to do so is both shameful and completely preventable.”
PULP also notes that the Cold Weather Survey reflects only those households who are without heat as a result of having their service involuntarily shut-off by a PUC regulated utility. It does not reflect potentially thousands of other households without heat as a result of being unable to pay municipal, rural electric cooperative, propane, or oil bills.
If you or someone that you know is without heat this winter, you should contact your utility and your local legal aid office for assistance. Also, there is still time to apply for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). PULP’s LIHEAP Manual can assist both low-income individuals and advocates in dealing with common LIHEAP-related problems.