State to enact Emergency Energy Conservation Plan for winter    

Lowered thermostats to reduce winter heating costs and save state millions

[NOV. 21, 2005]  CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich ordered the thermostats lowered in thousands of state facilities to reduce the state's winter heating costs. Setting back the thermostat in state office buildings and other facilities from Nov. 1 through April 15, 2006, will save the state an estimated $4 million in heating costs. The governor took this action as part of his Emergency Energy Assistance Initiative, launched last month to confront steep increases in winter heating costs due to record-high natural gas prices.

"We're doing the same thing here in state government that we're asking all Illinois families to do this winter -- we're lowering the thermostat to conserve energy to keep our winter heating bills down," Blagojevich said. "With natural gas prices at a historic high, we have to do all we can to reduce our fuel use."

The Emergency Energy Conservation Plan will affect nearly 2,000 state facilities, including office buildings, warehouses, garages and other facilities. Most facilities will lower their daytime temperatures from 70-72 degrees to 68 degrees. At nighttime and during off-hours, facilities not open to the public or to employees working routine schedules will turn back their thermostats to 55 degrees. Residential facilities such as prisons and military barracks will lower their temperatures to 68 degrees around the clock.

The plan does not affect temperatures at inpatient health care facilities, homeless shelters and other buildings housing vulnerable populations or where temperature-sensitive public safety and law enforcement operations are conducted.

"This Emergency Energy Conservation Plan is the next step in our comprehensive effort to help prepare everyone in Illinois for this winter's unprecedented heating prices," said Ed Hurley, director of emergency energy assistance. "For every degree people lower their heat between 70 degrees and 60 degrees, households can save about 3 percent on heating costs. People should also replace or clean their furnace filters monthly, reduce their hot-water temperature and weatherize their homes to seal up air leaks around doors and windows, pipes and cracks, to help keep the heat in. All these steps will help lower utility bills. But, if people simply cannot afford to adequately heat their homes, they should sign up for energy assistance programs or get help by going to a warming center in their community."

Recently, Blagojevich joined more than two dozen other governors in sending a letter to President Bush and congressional leaders urging them to approve additional federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Blagojevich took this action because the $2.1 billion in current funding is inadequate to help vulnerable families get through this winter.

To ensure that limited LIHEAP funds help as many families as possible, Blagojevich recently convinced Illinois' major utility companies to waive reconnection fees and suspend deposit requirements for customers receiving LIHEAP. This action -- which ensures that LIHEAP funding will be used directly for heating costs, not administrative add-ons that can add more than $400 to a bill -- the state can help thousands more low-income households with their heating costs this winter.

Through LIHEAP, a state- and federally funded energy assistance program run by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, heating bill payments are made on behalf of households with incomes of up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Blagojevich made LIHEAP funding available on Sept. 1 to meet winter heating needs for households with elderly or disabled members and those currently without home heating due to service disconnections. On Nov. 1, all LIHEAP-eligible households were allowed to apply.

A single-person household can qualify for LIHEAP with a monthly income of up to $1,196, a two-person household up to $1,604, and a family of four can earn up to $2,420. Benefits are paid directly to the household's appropriate utility. The energy grant applications are processed through a network of 35 local administering agencies around the state. These agencies accept applications on a first-come, first-served basis until funding for the program is exhausted. The winter heating program is expected to reach 300,000 households this winter with an estimated $150 million in state and federal funding.

For a complete listing of LIHEAP's local administrating agencies and additional information about the grant program, go to www.liheapillinois.com or call the toll-free LIHEAP information line at 1 [phone].

There has also been a series of Winter Assistance Days across the state to offer people from low-income households the opportunity to apply for LIHEAP grants, receive free weatherization kits and learn about several state health care programs.

[News release from the governor's office]

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