By Danielle Snidow
Dollar Energy Fund, Inc. (DEF) was born amidst a severe economic downturn that shuttered steel mills and factories across Western Pennsylvania in the early 1980s. Senior citizens and families were struggling to pay their utility bills, many of which had never asked for help before. A coalition of concerned community and business leaders in the greater Pittsburgh area recognized this need and came together to create a plan to ease the burden on these households. Utility companies were also invited to participate and became an integral part of the solution: a nonprofit fuel fund.
A quarter of a century after DEF’s inception, job losses were mounting across the country, and the costs of food and transportation were skyrocketing. As the nation faced the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, III contacted DEF to see if the organization could help struggling West Virginia residents meet their mounting utility needs. After a series of meetings with key stakeholders and a startup grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Dollar Energy Fund was born again—this time in West Virginia.
DEF has grown to become the largest privately financed hardship fund in the country. The fund’s mission is to improve the quality of life for households experiencing adversity by providing utility assistance and other services that lead to self-sufficiency. The organization utilizes a one-stop-shop approach to information and referrals for clients, providing grants directly to utility accounts and linking applicants to other community-based organizations that can help them move toward financial independence.
Growth into West Virginia
Since DEF’s 2008 expansion into the Mountain State, the fund has given more than $4.6 million in private utility assistance funding to more than 16,300 West Virginia households in order to prevent utility service disconnections or restore services that have already been terminated. The program assists eligible limited income households with their gas, electric and water bills through a payment of up to $500 per utility per year that is applied directly to their utility bills. West Virginia utility companies that participate in the fund include FirstEnergy (Monongalia Power and Potomac Edison), Appalachian Power, Dominion Hope, Equitable Gas, Mountaineer Gas and West Virginia American Water. These partners match every program donation and cover program administrative costs.
Limited income senior citizens and families may apply for assistance through one of more than 80 partnering community-based organizations like The Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. These organizations accept applications and submit them to Dollar Energy Fund electronically. Applicant guideline requirements include having a household income at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines, having an active termination notice or utility services disconnection and having made a sincere effort to make payments over the previous 90 days. Once an application is approved, payments are made directly to the utility accounts.
While the national economy is beginning to stabilize, West Virginia senior citizens and families are still finding it difficult to make ends meet. West Virginia has one of the highest home energy affordability gaps in the nation. According to the April 2011 Home Energy Affordability Gap study, West Virginia households with incomes at 50 percent of the federal poverty level use 64.8 percent of their annual income to pay home energy bills. Furthermore, existing sources of energy assistance do not adequately address the energy affordability gap in West Virginia. From 2002 through 2011, the state’s total Home Energy Affordability Gap increased by $272.3 million.
To make matters worse, the federal government recently slashed the Limited Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides utility assistance to low-income households. President Obama recently recommended making additional cuts to LIHEAP in Fiscal Year 2013 from the authorized $5.1 billion to $3 billion. This significant budget decrease will sharply reduce the number of West Virginia households that receive utility assistance through LIHEAP. Such a dramatic cut in federal funding for utility assistance is likely to increase demand on the West Virginia Utility Assistance Program, which provides relief to limited income West Virginia senior citizens and families in need of utility assistance.
Moving Forward
To help meet this demand, DEF‘s West Virginia program is currently forming the Partners in Warmth Network, a new outreach initiative funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. This network will be a coalition of West Virginia businesses, civic groups, churches, schools and foundations, across the Mountain State that will provide direct donations or hold in-house fundraisers with the goal of helping at least 2,000 additional West Virginia households maintain or restore their utility services.
Dollar Energy Fund’s expansion into West Virginia has paved the way for Appalachian Power in Virginia and Tennessee and American Electric Power in Ohio, Texas and Louisiana to participate in the fund to in order to help their own customers. In addition to the hardship program, DEF also administers customer assistance programs and weatherization programs for utility companies.
For more information on the Dollar Energy Fund, please visit www.dollarenergyfund.org. To learn how your organization can become a Partner in Warmth, please contact DEF Regional Director Danielle Snidow by e-mail at dsnidow@dollarenergy.org or by phone at (304)552-3331.
About the Author
Danielle Snidow, WV, VA & TN Director, Dollar Energy Fund
Danielle Snidow joined the Dollar Energy Fund, Inc. team in March 2008. She has more than 10 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising and project management. Her current responsibilities include overseeing the West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee utility assistance programs, including serving as the main contact for utility partners, the media and donors and leading all fundraising efforts for the programs. Snidow earned her master’s degree in business administration from Marshall University. She was recently chosen by The State Journal as a member of the 2011 Generation Next: 40 under 40.
