Gloria Ferris

We have people in our city, in our state, and in our country that are deciding at this very moment in time whether to stay warm (pay utility bills), stay well (buy medicine), and/or eat (buy food).  This set of circumstances is an appalling situation in the richest country in the world.

In the 1980’s, I worked for BP Oil in its home heating oil division.  We worked closely with the HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program) and the one time emergency fund handled through the state.  The one time payment was $125 and the HEAP payment was $243 or $273 for heating oil customers.  I was astounded to find that the payments have remained relatively stagnant and that the dollars allocated have remained the same.  How can that be?  The utility costs have risen consistently over the past 25 years but the assistance programs are offering assistance at early ’80’s rates.  Things just don’t add up here.

We need to speak out loudly to government officials that THE HEATING AFFORDABILITY CRISIS cannot continue.  An opportunity awaits us. Thursday, March  16th,  Comsumers for Fair Utility Rates presents A Community Conversation with our Public Officials.  Those expected include: State Rep. John Hagan–Chair, Ohio house Public Utilities Committee: Jeanine Migden-Ostrander-Ohio Consumers’Counsel, Clarence Rogers-PUCO Commissioner, and other state and city of Cleveland officials.

The meeting is Thursday, March 16 at Sagrada Familia Church, 7719 Detroit Avenue, from 7 to 9 p.m.  Please try to attend. Bring your heating bills and make your voices heard. Estimated bills help no one but the utility companies. Switching costs from the cost of gas to delivery charges also does not help the consumer.

Public outrage will be the only factor that will get the attention of the ones who make the decisions.  We must make elected government officials understand that unless real action is taken to change the situation that we the voters will make a change at the ballot box.

 This rant brought to you by this, this, and this. Our neighbor, Bill Callahan wrote a great piece for the Free Times called “Heating Costs Suck” Unfortunately, I cannot link to the article, but it is worth a read. Also the New York Times had an article today giving this a national perspective.  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Cleveland, quality of life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.