Many Coloradans Seek Help Paying Utility Bills

DENVER -- - The flagging economy in Colorado is forcing record numbers of residents to seek help paying their utility bills.

With limited funds available, assistance agencies said they will seek state legislation for a program to help the poorest Coloradans keep their heat on.

"The demand for assistance is unprecedented," said Glenn Cooper, manager of the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, or LEAP. "We've never had this many people asking for help before."

A consortium of assistance agencies, utility companies and state legislators discussing terms of a bill that would raise $14 million a year for home energy assistance.

One option being considered is a monthly surcharge for all utility customers, with proceeds viding payment relief to the low-income, elderly and disabled.

Xcel Energy, the state's largest heat and power provider, said it would consider supporting legislation if it applied equally to all of the state's utilities.

"We realize there is a need to support a long-term program to provide assistance where it is needed," said Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz.

Low-income residents are using inordinate amounts of their income to pay utility bills, leaving a shortfall for other necessities, said Karen Brown, executive director of the Colorado Energy Assistance Foundation.

ile CEAF, LEAP and other programs will disburse an estimated $33 million this year in utility-bill assistance, agency officials say it would take $198 million a year to cover the heating bills of low-income Coloradans.

Energy experts say that with above-average temperatures this winter and moderate energy prices, the blame for the ll crisis is squarely on Colorado's battered economy, in which 43,000 workers lost their jobs last year.

In just the past three years, Colorado has dropped from the third-best state for new job creation to the third-worst state.

Colorado's unemployment rate is 5.5 per cent, compared with 2.5 per cent two years ago.

One of the casualties is Laura Lucero, a 44-year-old senior administrative assistant who lost her job just before Thanksgiving.

She's trying to support a family of six on her unemployment compensation of $310 a week.

Though she may lose her Denver home -- Lucero is two months delinquent on her mortgage payments -- she hasn't lost utility service because LEAP and a nonprofit agency funded by CEAF are covering her $100-plus monthly utility bill.

"Right now I'm trying to save every bit of money I can, and it really helps to have that assistance on my heating bill." More than one of every five Coloradans have incomes low enough to qualify for financial aid -- the highest ratio ever, according to a new study by CEAF.

A household earning the average Colorado income of $46,773 spends about five per cent of its income on home energy costs.

Yet the poorest households -- defined as a family of four with an annual income of less than $8,500 a year or a single resident earning less than $4,200 -- are paying as much as 40 per cent of their income on utility bills.