(The Center Square) — Mainers will be receiving financial relief to help with skyrocketing energy bills this winter, under an emergency order signed by Gov. Janet Mills Wednesday.
The relief plan, which sailed through the state legislature with bipartisan support, will provide one-time payments of $450 to more than 880,000 eligible residents, and pumps tens of millions of dollars into the state’s fuel assistance programs and emergency shelter, and short-term housing for the state’s homeless population.
“With high energy prices causing real hardship, this emergency measure will ease the financial burden on Maine people by putting money back into their pockets and ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are able to stay warm this winter,” Mills said in a statement.
Mills said she plans to work with lawmakers to “implement long-term solutions that will bring down energy costs, improve energy efficiency, and reduce Maine’s highest-in-the-nation dependence on expensive and harmful fossil fuels.”
Mills, a Democrat, filed her proposal last month in response to rising energy costs and the pinch of record high inflation on Mainer’s pocketbooks as winter settles in. She called on lawmakers to approve the emergency relief plan to help Mainers cope with high costs of heating and electricity.
The Democratic-led House approved the plan, but it failed to meet the two-thirds threshold in the Senate required to pass, with eight Republican lawmakers voting against it.
Republican senators who voted against the plan, say they wanted it to be vetted through the committee process, which would include a public hearing. Mills and other top Democrats said the move will delay relief for the state’s consumers.
But Republicans agreed to the plan after legislative leaders held a public hearing on it ahead of the holidays. It was approved by more than the two-thirds majority needed just hours before Mills signed the measure Wednesday.
The relief plan comes as the average price for heating oil in Maine hovers above $5 per gallon, which has consumers now expected to pay, on average, $525 more to fill their tank compared to one year ago, according to the Mills administration.
Mainers are expected to pay, on average, more than $500 more in electricity costs per year compared to a typical year following hefty rate hikes by power companies, officials say.
