Natural gas utility NIPSCO, citing higher wholesale costs, says they’ll increase home heating bills an average of 16% this winter, after they jumped 19% last winter. The news comes as the Trump administration moves to cut energy assistance funding for low-income households.
Taking NIPSCO’s increases for both years’ together, keeping warm this winter will cost about 38% more compared to 2023. REAL Services, the South Bend-based nonprofit, administers the federal Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, or LiHEAP. They’ll start distributing assistance Nov. 1.
President Trump has threatened to flat-line funding for next year. REAL Services president and CEO Karla Mapes says that will effectively mean cuts since costs are rising. She says the program could run out of money by early January, rather than early April as usual.
Mapes says it's likely time to start leaning more on the private sector. She says local foundations and corporations historically have been generous with donations to REAL Services.
”But we often don’t get them for those types of basic needs programs because they’ve previously have been funded at such high levels by the government," Mapes says. "But we’re entering a time when that’s going to transition, where we will have to continue to look to our local community, and people who care about our community, and yes our donations are down significantly.”
