Hot or Cold?

I was unable to "Blog" for the past 11 days! This post was intended for November 15th, 2008

Whatever happened to government’s $6.9 million home heating assistance program, the program, promised a year ago to help low-income families deal with the high cost of home heating, hasn’t been followed up on it seems. “Last year, we all heard the stories about seniors, disabled and low income earners going to malls, friends houses and even spending time visiting a friend of a friend of a friend in hospital, just to stay warm, because they could not afford to keep the heat on in their homes.

In a “have” province, government should have a plan to deal with this reality, or a bigger plan to force PUB to cut deep into profits” The three-year plan to provide funding to the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation to create a Residential Energy Efficiency Program for low-income households would help low-income families with energy audits and insulation to cut their heating costs, and I wonder when or if this year’s home heating rebate will be announced.

“Where is the promised energy efficiency program? And when will government announce its home heating rebate? Last year government increased the income threshold to $40,000 with no eligible family receiving less than $100. that was good but there needs to be a long-term plan for dealing with the rising cost of home heating fuel.

Government should bring the rebate back up to the 2005 maximum of $400 and it should be the same for electricity, and other fuels, as it is for oil.“The pressure to conserve and be energy efficient does not just rest with consumers, because so many of them can’t afford the investment. Government has a big role to play here and they are falling down on the job,”

Brudder