DON'T LEAVE THE POOR COLD

If winter’s bitter blast had hit the Northeast this year the way it left us shivering in the record cold of 2005-2006, our region's poorest citizens would have faced an unprecedented heating crisis. But don't think that a few warm days in January and most of February meant it was an easy winter for those struggling to make ends meet. During the entire season, New England was only 6 percent warmer than normal. The temperatures didn't set any records, but the price of fuel did. With costs so high, some families turned to unsafe methods to stay warm, resulting in house fires and serious injuries.

Rising energy prices meant that many households receiving federal fuel assistance ran through their benefit before Christmas, forcing them to turn earlier than usual to nonprofits such as Citizens Energy and utilities such as KeySpan for additional aid.

Meanwhile, wrangling in Washington delayed congressional approval of an additional $1 billion in funding for federal fuel assistance until a few days before the start of spring. Better late than never, the increase is helping about 140,000 Massachusetts households catch up on their energy bills. But the real issue is next year, and the year after that.

Yes, Congress deserves credit for acting, but the fact is that the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program has never been adequately funded. Created in the early 1980s, the program is leaving too many poor families in the cold when it comes to paying their heating bills. Meanwhile, LIHEAP has been subject to needless partisan debates and was again held hostage this year to unrelated issues.

At the very minimum, LIHEAP's funding level of $3.1 billion should be raised to the full authorization of $5.1 billion. We must also create mechanisms to automatically trigger fuel assistance increases when energy costs skyrocket and temperatures plummet.

Make no mistake about the need: The nearly 5 million families receiving LIHEAP aid represent just 1 in 4 of all the households eligible for the benefit.

Addressing the needs of the poor through LIHEAP funding increases is just one part of the equation. We must also tackle structural issues that keep costs high and the poor more vulnerable.

In the past weeks, regulators have accepted proposals from KeySpan and other utilities to decrease what customers pay for natural gas and electricity. Additionally KeySpan, Distrigas, and others have made sizable contributions to fuel funds to help the needy.

For next year, we must make sure the $5.1 billion authorized for LIHEAP is fully funded. But we should also explore mechanisms to allow automatic increases in LIHEAP based on the cost of energy.

For example, prices rising above a baseline figure -- let's say $40 a barrel for oil or $8 per unit for gas -- would trigger an equitable increase in federal fuel assistance. Another method would be to tie LIHEAP funding increases to spikes in so-called ''degree days," a measurement used to determine how much fuel is needed to stay warm. When degree days run ahead of normal, LIHEAP funds should rise commensurately.

Regardless of the specific method, Congress should explore funding LIHEAP increases in a way that stops relying on the uncertainty of its annual budget and appropriations process.

The issue of adequately serving the energy needs of vulnerable families should be one of our nation's highest priorities. It's time that fuel assistance should track the needs of the poor rather than political tempers in Washington.

Robert B. Catell is chairman and CEO of KeySpan, the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. Joseph P. Kennedy II is chairman and president of Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit that provides low-cost heating oil to the poor and elderly.

04/06