The Baltimore City Council, hoping to cushion the blow of the impending BGE rate hike, is seeking more money for a state program that provides energy assistance to low-income residents.
Council member Keiffer Mitchell introduced a resolution Monday calling on the city to take money from the surplus and add it to the state-funded energy assistance program.
“We have the surplus, and this is a good way to spend it,” said Mitchell, D-District 11.
Mitchell is hoping the city will add $2 million to $3 million to the Maryland Energy Assistance Program, which provides financial help to qualified applicants who cannot pay their utility bills. The money is needed, Mitchell said, because the number of people seeking assistance is up this year.
“Twenty-nine thousand city residents applied for aid this year, up from 24,000 last year, so we need more money,” Mitchell said.
Requests for energy assistance peak during the winter months, Mitchell said, but this year the 72 percent rate hike, recently approved by the Public Service Commission, could mean more people than ever looking for help. “Because of the rate hike, the demand will be higher this summer,” Mitchell said.
The Maryland Energy Assistance Program, which is administered locally by the city?s Housing Department, gives eligible residents money to pay their utility bills. This past winter, Mitchell said, applicants received roughly $300 each. Last year the state gave the city $10 million for energy assistance, money that was actually provided by the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. That program gives money to states each year to help low-income people pay their electric bills, but had been frozen at 1980s funding levels for nearly two decades.
