Higher natural gas prices, colder weather and lingering economic woes caused by the pandemic are squeezing energy customers in Colorado and keeping the agencies that provide help busy.
“We know the commodity price of gas is raising people’s bills between 20% and 30%,” said Joe Pereira,deputy director at the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate.
The Colorado Low Income Energy Assistance Program — LEAP — has helped 63,270 households since November, a 10% increase from the same period in 2021. The federally financed program has received 91,000 applications for help to cover heating bills, also up 10%.
A helpline for people having trouble paying their heat bills got about 8,500 calls the week of Feb. 7, up 18% from the previous week, said Denise Stepto, spokeswoman for Energy Outreach Colorado, a nonprofit started by the Colorado General Assembly to provide assistance to low-income energy customers
Stepto said the EOC, which works with business and government partners, had helped 10,019 people with their bills from Oct. 1 to early February. The average benefit was $562.
“I think we’re going to see these numbers go up,” Stepto said.
A major factor is that wholesale prices for natural gas prices have more than doubled over the past year. The price Friday was about $4.50 per million British thermal units.
The price of natural gas this winter is about 26% higher compared to last winter, according to Xcel Energy-Colorado, which provides natural gas to about 1.4 million customers in the state.
The price of propane, used mainly in rural areas, has jumped 54%, Stepto said.
While prices typically decrease as winter ends, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could keep energy prices high because Russia is a major oil and gas producer.
“As you’re nearing the end of the winter heating season, then you get some relief, generally, in shorter-term prices for natural gas,” said Brad Handler, a senior fellow with the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.
However, with the conflicts with Russia, “one might imagine that will keep prices from falling or fluctuating as much as they might have otherwise,” Handler added.
Xcel Energy is seeking a natural gas rate increase of $188.6 million over three years for improvements to the system. If approved, rates would rise Nov. 1. The utility, among others, is also seeking approval to recover its costs from a February 2021 storm that plunged temperatures below zero from Texas to the Midwest and sent natural gas prices soaring.
Stepto and Theresa Kullen, LEAP program manager, said many Coloradans are still struggling with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The moratoriums on disconnecting utility customers who couldn’t pay their bills during the pandemic was an important move, Stepto said.
“But once it was lifted, you still owed all the money you didn’t pay. It was accumulating,” Stepto said. “If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you’re not stable yet.”
The LEAP program is helping Coloradans in arrears on their bills. Besides its $58 million regular federal grant, the agency received $71 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to help people pay what they owe.
“This year we’re really fortunate to make a big impact. We’re not just helping people hang on by a thread, but we’re actually helping them get to a more stable place,” Kullen said.
LEAP has paid “millions and millions of dollars” to clear up the past bills, Kullen said. The program works with Energy Outreach Colorado through the Crisis Intervention Program to repair or replace furnaces or boilers.
Stepto recently helped a nearly 100-year-old woman whose furnace quit working.
“One of her neighbors told her about us. She just hit every phone number she could and she got me,” Stepto said.
After getting the woman’s information and talking to her, Stepto contacted her colleagues, who got the furnace fixed.
“This is, sadly, the third time this winter where we had older people call and say ‘I have nothing,’ ” Stepto said.
Kullen said people can call the heat helpline, 1-866-HEAT-HELP or 1-866-432-8435, for assistance, or go to the LEAP website, https://cdhs.colorado.gov/leap, to apply for benefits. People can also go to the Colorado Peak site.
“We have worked hard to reduce as many barriers as we can to get people help,” Kullen said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
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