LIHEAP is a grant program in which the federal government provides money to states to pass on to people who are having trouble paying their utility bills. The government allocates a certain amount of money to fund the program, and it also sets aside a contingency fund, controlled by the president, who can release the additional money at his discretion.

There is still about $136 million left in the president’s emergency contingency fund.

Rhode Island’s share of the initial grant was about $13.5 million. That would have been enough to help only about 25,000 people, Guglielmetti said. Now, counting the contingency funds, Rhode Island will receive a total of about $18 million. That will allow the state to help an additional 4,000 families, he said. Some families may now be able to receive a second grant or a second emergency delivery of 100 gallons of heating oil, he said. LIHEAP money has already been used to pay for 3,000 such deliveries, Guglielmetti said.

Last year, the state distributed $19.5 million in LIHEAP money to about 30,000 households. About $6 million of that was carried over from the previous year.

Heating costs for those that use oil is at an all-time high mainly because of the high cost of crude oil. The average price of home heating oil in Rhode Island on Monday was $3.359 a gallon, down 7 cents from its all-time high reached last week. The average price is 41 percent higher than it was a year ago.

A typical customer that uses 666 gallons of heating oil will pay about $2,187 for heat this heating season, which is $435 or about 25 percent more than last year’s heating season, according to calculations by The Journal.

Rates for natural gas in Rhode Island have actually declined slightly compared to last winter, but they remain near their historic highs. A typical customer that uses a total of 922 therms of gas in a year (the same amount of energy in 666 gallons of heating oil) will pay $1,408 this year, which is $15, or 1 percent less than last winter.

Because the state anticipated that less money would be available this year, it cut the average amount of grants to enable more people to receive at least some assistance, Guglielmetti said.
The average grant this year was about $350, compared to about $450 last year.

Guglielmetti said that a low-income household that has run out of oil may get help through the state’s emergency heating assistance hotline. The number is (401) 574-9003.