Green steps ‘hurting people in fuel poverty’, July 12, 2010, BBC News: “People in fuel poverty face being unfairly hit by the costs of investment in energy infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gases, a report says. Such spending may see energy bills rise by 50% – on top of 125% rises seen in the past six years – the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group said. This was ‘regressive’ and would ‘disproportionately’ impact those people on low incomes, it warned. Energy firms should prioritise the fuel poor, the group added. The group also urged the government to guarantee the future of the Warm Front scheme, which offers grants to tackle fuel poverty – defined as spending over 10% of household income on energy bills…”
Tag: Utilities
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Widespread fraud found in utility program for poor, By Nathan Hurst, July 2, 2010, Detroit News: “More than $116 million was wasted in fraud and improper payments to people in seven states — including Michigan — who faked information on applications for a federal program created to help poor families pay for heating their homes, a Government Accountability Office report shows. In the worst cases, applicants using the Social Security numbers of dead people were given up to $1,100 each. Others received benefits while they were in prison, living in mansions, driving luxury cars or making well over the maximum income allowed by the program. All told, $5 billion was spent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 2009, and GAO investigators found 9 percent of cases in seven states — Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia — involved fraud. Those states distributed roughly one-third of the federal heating assistance dollars in 2009. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was ‘very disturbed’ by the report…”
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Feds wasted millions in utilities program for poor, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), July 1, 2010, Miami Herald: “A federal program designed to help impoverished families heat and cool their homes wasted more than $100 million paying the electric bills of thousands of applicants who were dead, in prison or living in million-dollar mansions, according to a government investigation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spent $5 billion through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 2009, doling out money to states with little oversight of the program. Some states don’t verify applicants’ identifies or income. For example, the program helped pay the electric bill of a woman who lives in a $2 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb and drives a Mercedes, according to the yet-to-be released report obtained by The Associated Press. The Government Accountability Office studied the program after a 2007 investigation by Pennsylvania’s state auditor found 429 applicants received more than $162,000 using the Social Security numbers of dead people. The GAO investigated Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Virginia, which represented about one-third of the program’s funding in 2009. The agency found improper payments in about 9 percent of households receiving benefits in those states, totaling $116 million. The report comes after a dramatic increase in the size of the assistance checks as fuel oil costs soared in 2008 and 2009…”