Record-breaking heat waves and lower heating costs normally combine to produce content renters and homeowners.
But the 2001-'02 winter has seen an increase across the state in people seeking assistance with their heating bills, which local experts are attributing to the overall downtrend in the economy.
Megin Hicks, the program director at the Tenant Resource Center, 1202 Williamson St., said there has been an increase in people coming in for general assistance since October.
\We were starting to see a trend with the economy throughout the year and things have just peaked at the end of 2001,"" she said. ""You have to make choices: Do I pay for food, do I pay for rent or do I pay my energy bill? You just try to get help with any of those that you can.""
The state has also seen an increase in people seeking energy assistance this year. Department of Administration official John Marx said the requests stem from the harsh winter and high energy costs of last year, which saw a 30 percent increase in caseloads. The 2001-'02 season has been a 10 percent increase over the previous year.
""Over the past two years, you have definitely seen a large increase [in case loads]. There are still a lot of people whose bills are very far in arrears, carrying over from last year,"" he said. ""The energy assistance that the state provides does not come anywhere near to covering their bills. They still carry a fairly large load.""
Despite the state's looming budget deficit and the upcoming special legislative session to deal with the problem, Marx said it should have little effect on the amount of assistance his department will be able to provide.
""Most of the money we work with is federal money which cannot be touched in the budgetary freeze,"" he said.
