GREENFIELD — With funding to pay for home heating oil dwindling, energy costs rising amid the war with Iran and freezing temperatures persisting closer to home, the Massachusetts Senate is weighing a $35 million supplemental fuel assistance bill that has already passed in the House of Representatives.
Community Action Pioneer Valley and other Community Action agencies throughout the state are banding together to advocate for the boost. In Franklin and Hampshire counties, a slice of these funds would help continue to heat about 7,800 households before the fuel assistance season ends on April 30.
“People have been looking for ways to get just one more delivery,” Jo Bartley, fuel assistance program director, said on Thursday from Community Action Pioneer Valley’s offices in Greenfield. “A lot of folks have $200 or $300 left. That’s been really hard, because it is not a full tank for most folks, or even in some cases a minimum delivery.”
The call for more funding comes as the state faces one of its coldest winters in recent years, and about a week after Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state is increasing Home Energy Assistance Program benefits for tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents who rely on the federal program to help pay for home heating.
The maximum amount for deliverable fuels like oil, propane and kerosene has been raised from $1,000 to $1,400, while natural gas and electricity benefits have been boosted from $850 to $925.
But even at the new maximum, Community Action Pioneer Valley officials estimate that about 72% of the 7,800 households that qualified for the program this winter are nearly out of funds, with some down to their last $100 in aid. The additional $35 million boost would allow agencies to refill an estimated 36,000 households statewide whose tanks have gone dry.
On average, a tank of oil costs $600 depending on the service provider and delivery costs, so the $400 boost doesn’t meet the threshold of need. “That’s still not enough for a lot of folks, with oil especially,” Bartley said.
The rural character of Hampshire and Franklin counties also exacerbates costs. Unlike in Boston, where many people use electricity, many fuel consumers in western Massachusetts also have to cover delivery fees.
“[People in Boston] are not having to worry about emergency delivery fees, which are taken out of the benefit,” Bartley said.
Jessica Thompson, associate director of community engagement for Community Action Pioneer Valley, reiterated that the boost from the governor is great, but not enough for many people to receive a minimum delivery.
“We’re really hopeful that after this incredibly cold winter that the state will come through with some additional resources that will help keep people warm,” she said.
Thompson said those who are reaching out for help include people living paycheck to paycheck, veterans, families with young children and seniors. Just recently, a couple came in and applied for the first time, after one of them lost work following a car crash.
“I think that there’s often a lot of stigma around poverty, and what we really see is that folks who need us are our neighbors,” Thompson said. “They’re the people at the grocery store … and the parents that you’re waiting with in the pickup line. Fuel assistance serves all of those people.”
Thompson continued, “We really believe that people deserve to be warm. They deserve to be fed and supported and connected. And so this effort by Community Actions all over the state to advocate is really advocacy for our neighbors who need to stay warm.”
Aside from keeping people warm, Thompson said, the funding has ripple effects that impact the local economy.
“These are dollars that are going into the community, and they are going right back out. These are dollars that are going to small businesses; they’re going to the fuel providers in the community and they’re supporting keeping people warm, but also supporting jobs in the small business economy,” she said. “They’re really pass-through dollars, so we’re facilitating that process and it’s one heck of a process.”
Federal impact?
While Community Action advocates at the state level, it is still unclear what impact federal changes will have on Community Action Pioneer Valley, and fuel assistance more generally, Thompson said. Fuel assistance, she added, is “almost entirely” covered by federal funding through congressional appropriations that get distributed as state block grants.
“It honestly remains to be seen what the full impact will be. It has been a really stressful year,” said Thompson, adding that the record-breaking 43-day government shutdown was felt locally. “The reduction in labor, in workforce at the federal government level, has really made the entire process of providing support to the community that much more challenging.”
Since last fall, Community Action Pioneer Valley received 8,525 applications for fuel assistance. Of those, about 700 people are ineligible.
But the number of applications was down by 400 this year compared to last, and officials speculated that all the press surrounding federal funding cuts kept people from applying.
“I think a lot of folks were hearing, ‘Well, it’s going to be harder for me to apply,’ and I think some folks just hearing about the shutdown just assumed, ‘Well, this is not happening,'” Bartley said. “I think that was on a lot of people’s minds. And from what I’m hearing, from people who are coming in now, there’s a lot of surprise, like, ‘Oh, you made it through the shutdown’ and things like that.”
According to Community Action Pioneer Valley’s 2025 annual report, the organization paid for $7.6 million worth of energy bills in Hampshire and Franklin counties last season. This dollar amount supported more than 15,000 individuals in more than 8,000 households. Of them, more than 3,000 people had disabilities, and almost 700 were children under age 5.