The U.S. Senate was expected to approve Wednesday a continuing resolution to fund government at 2012 spending levels through March 2013. Included in the plan, passed to avoid a government shutdown and delay budget decisions until after the election is decided and the winners in office, is $3.478 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. That’s the same amount as last year, and $658 million more than originally in the spending plan, thanks to last-minute additions made by senators Olympia Snowe of Maine and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Maine, with some of the coldest winters and highest heating bills in the country, can expect $38.5 million, identical to the program’s funding last year. But the state, and the country, is hardly out of the cold.

The $38.5 million in LIHEAP funding last winter that provided energy assistance to 8.9 million households represented a significant decrease from 2010-11, when the program was funded at $56.5 million. Fortunately, last winter was especially mild. A much colder season is predicted this year, meaning many households will feel the real impact of last year’s cut. Making matters worse is the price of heating oil, which is hovering around $3.53 a gallon in the greater Portland area, as compared to $2.66 a gallon at the beginning of October 2010.

Ironically, the heat wave that blistered much of the country this summer is not helping matters, either. Some states reportedly used heating funds to help keep dangerously high temperatures at bay. Illinois, for example, spent $10 million on cooling for 74,000, which means heating funds might not be available for as many as 20,000 residents this winter.

And while the heating assistance funding was returned to last year’s level in the continuing resolution, contingency funds were not included. An energy crisis of any kind – an unexpected cut in supply or a particularly harsh winter – could leave elderly and poor Mainers unable to keep their homes warm.

Fortunately, heating oil consumption in Maine is at levels not seen in the last three decades, the result of efforts to weatherize Maine’s aging housing stock and replace old, inefficient burners. There is also significant competition in the state’s heating industry from natural gas and wood, giving people more choices when the price of heating oil spikes.

These developments are good news for Maine, but little consolation for low-income Mainers in need of immediate help. State officials should move now to prepare for the worst this winter, and residents who want to help should put that energy toward the many local fuel assistance programs that act as a cushion when state and federal funding fall short.

Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter.

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