Budget issue may affect bill-paying program

TENNESSEE – President Bush has authorized increased funding for low income household power bills, but Congressman Bart Gordon says the money is from next year’s budget, thereby threatening the program next winter.

About 550 households in Bedford County have had energy bills paid through the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The residents were qualified for help by the South Central Tennessee Human Resource Agency, headquartered in Fayetteville.

The agency’s community services program director is Cathy Hayes. She’s checked LIHEAP applications and says clients have told her that without help they’d paid for heat instead of prescriptions during the dead of winter.

“I’ve seen elderly people with energy bills that, in the middle of winter, were $300 to $500,” Hayes said. “They were living in a big, old family home with high ceilings and no insulation and drafty windows.

Shelbyville Times-Gazette