Operation Fuel Trying To Heat Homes in Cold Economic Climate

With freezing temperatures bearing down on the Nutmeg State, Operation Fuel is bracing itself for what looks to be the toughest year in the organization's 33-year history.

The Bloomfield-based organization, which provides emergency energy assistance to households throughout the state, is fighting an uphill battle to help families stay warm this season, while sustaining a significant decline in funding.

For the past few years, Operation Fuel has received financial support from the state of Connecticut to aid those in need of assistance with paying their energy bills. "But this year, we are not receiving any funds from the state," said Patricia Wrice, executive director of Operation Fuel.

Operation Fuel, which was privately funded since being founded in 1977, turned to state funding during the 2006-2007 fiscal year, "because the energy crisis hit and the state wanted to provide some additional support for people who were having a problem keeping up with their energy costs,  according to Wrice.

In 2009-10, state funding helped Operation Fuel provide energy assistance to more than 6,800 Connecticut homes. Roughly $1.2 million in energy assistance was made possible through the state's contribution, with just under $1 million coming from privately-raised funds.

The financial woes caused by the loss of state funding is compounded by the fact that the need for energy assistance has steadily increased from year to year. In Hartford and Tolland Counties, Operation Fuel served 1,621 and 120 households respectively over the last year. Those homes accounted for $44,188 in energy assistance in Tolland County, and $483,625 in Hartford County (These figures do not take into account homes served with state funding).

Faced with the inability to provide assistance on the same scale, Operation Fuel has been forced to make some adjustments to ensure that those in need continue to receive assistance. Funds raised from individual and corporate donors will drive the effort to heat households this winter season. Operation Fuel has announced that its current fundraising campaign goal is $1 million. The organization is also focusing mainly on helping families that Wrice described as "most at risk."

Operation Fuel has narrowed its applicant pool by only "taking applications from households that heat with oil or other deliverable fuels," according to a statement released by the organization. Oil and other deliverable fuels accounted for 61 percent of energy assistance provided to homes in Connecticut last year. By narrowing down the applicant pool, Wrice stated, Operation Fuel is "trying to encourage people to use the state program and use us as a last resort."

"When we looked around we realized that it was going to be tough enough for us to raise $1 million, when last year we gave out twice that amount of money... So we we're triaging. We were only going to help those people, during these months, who are really most at risk," Wrice said.

"People most at risk are those that need an oil delivery because they don't have the same kind of protection under the state program. We were just trying to hedge our limited funds to make sure that we caught people who truly fell through the cracks."

The Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), unlike Operation Fuel, only provides energy assistance to families during the winter months. For the more than 100 "fuel banks" through which Operation Fuel provides assistance, when the state program is not in operation (summer months) or when families use up their state funding in the winter things begin to pick up.

Fuel banks in Windsor, Windsor Locks, Tolland, Manchester, Ellington, Somers, Suffield and East Windsor funnel funding from Operation Fuel to at-risk residents once they use up assistance received through CEAP, and during the spring and summer when families need help to pay electricity bills.

According to Kristen Formanek, Windsor Social Services coordinator, the spring and summer months are the fuel bank's busiest time of the year, until families have used their state heating grants in the winter.

"Monetary donations are what we need most right now, because when people are done with their funding from the state energy assistance program, it's usually around January, and they'll be coming here looking for more help," she said.

"A lot of people are unemployed, or they're underemployed, and they can't pay for all their fuel costs themselves."

It's the underemployed, rather than the unemployed, that are "most at risk," Wrice said. "It's those people who, at one point would [have been] considered middle-income, and are now struggling. It's those households who earn between $45,000 - $65,000. I think those are the most at risk because many of the programs don't address that income [range], and if they do, it's not enough."

Wrice also noted that households outside of Connecticut's urban centers that are the most vulnerable.

"When you go outside of the urban areas, that's deliverable fuel, so many of those families... are very vulnerable because there are no winter protections for someone that heats with oil," Wrice said.

Those households are additionally vulnerable because, Wrice argued, those households mostly receive oil from small, individual dealerships. "Most of these dealerships are mom-and-pop [shops], and [households] have to pay cash for their product. Credit has tightened, and therefore, [dealers] have tightened on their customers too... If you don't have the money for your oil delivery, you don't get oil. And if you're cold, you're cold," she said.

Fundraising progress has been made in the effort to catch households falling through the cracks. Northeast Utilities gifted $625,000 to the organization's cause; however, while Wrice expressed appreciation for the money, it still doesn't bring Operation Fuel to the level it needs to reach.

While Wrice isn't giving up, she admits that financial assistance isn't a long-term solution to energy assistance.

"At best, providing emergency energy assistance is a band-aid," she said. "We never will have enough resources to help everybody that needs help... So we're advocating for long term solutions."

"We really need to have stabilized rates; have people pay a discounted rate based on income, and we're promoting that... If we had a discounted rate based on income, that would be a better situation, rather than be subject to the whims of the market."

Donations for Operation Fuel can be made online at www.operationfuel.org.