Monday, the Summerside Salvation Army and the organization’s Charlottetown office began taking applications for its annual Home Heating Program.
“We are going to be taking applications from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon until all the money is gone,” said Karen Mallett, community and family services co-ordinator with the Salvation Army in Summerside.
“Today, the applications went slowly. I think I received maybe 35 applications, which is unusual but a lot of people said they didn’t know about it. I think that’s why it was slow today.”
The province earmarked $121,000 in its annual budget towards the program, with the Summerside Salvation Army receiving $40,000 and the remaining $81,000 to be distributed in Kings and Queens counties by the Charlottetown Salvation Army.
Rhea Jenkins, director of social programs with the Department of Community Services and Seniors, said with the price of home heating fuel at its lowest since 2010 — 86.2 cents per litre — the program will go even further than it had in the past to help Islanders in need.
“I don’t think it is anything any one of us would ever have predicted, but we certainly appreciate it,” Jenkins said of the recent drop in fuel prices. “The number of families that will be able to get the help through the Salvation Army will definitely be a larger number due to this drop in heating oil.”
Mallett said, “Even if I can give another two or three some help, that’s great. It’s good for us alers.”
The program also gets a boost from the P.E.I. Petroleum Marketers Association, which provides a donation of thousands of litres of oil each year. Mallett couldn’t comment on how much was donated this year.
Last January, when the price of home heating fuel was at its highest in recent years, at $1.15 per litre, the money allocated to the Summerside Salvation Army dried up in a matter of days. At that time, on the first day applications were being accepted, people were lined up outside the doors.
“It was very expensive and there is no question if you are an Islander who was struggling financially, rising fuel costs are an extra pressure,” said Jenkins.
The program has been in existence since 2008 and offers, to successful applicants, a one-time 400-litre delivery of home heating oil.
Mallett said applicants must have with them proof of address, P.E.I. Health cards for all residents of the home, oil tank number and expiration date, and the most recent income tax report. She added people who live in low-income housing or who receive social assistance are not eligible under the program.
Mallett said successful applicants should have oil delivered within 48 hours.
In 2014, the program helped provide oil to 264 households on P.E.I.
Jenkins said the province, through the Office of Energy Efficiency, does offer assistance to Islanders looking to make their homes more energy efficient, thus cutting down on home heating oil consumption. That information can be found at www.gov.pe.ca/oee/index.php?number=1022130&lang=E.
Furnace fuel price comparisons (wholesalers)
Jan. 1, 2015 — 86.2 cents per litre
Jan. 1, 2014 — $1.15 per litre
Jan. 1, 2013 — $1.06 per litre
Jan. 1, 2012 — 99.3 cents per litre
Jan. 1, 2011 — 87.6 cents per litre
Jan. 1, 2010 — 80 cents per litre
Jan. 1, 2009 — 65 cents per litre
Courtesy of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission’s website — www.irac.pe.ca
