From the Office of Senator Kerry

Thursday, July 27, 2000

Washington, D.C. – The Senate today passed the Energy Act of 2000. The Act included legislation authored by Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) to address price spikes in home heating oil in New England, including an annual industry evaluation and consumer price protections. The bill also includes the creation of a New England home heating oil reserve.

The Home Heating Readiness Report, mandated in Kerry's bill, will annually assess the readiness of the heating oil and propane industries to supply fuel under various weather conditions, including cold snaps. It also calls on the Department of Energy to recommend steps that the Federal, State, and local governments, as well as the heating oil industry can take to prevent or alleviate the impact of sharp and sustained increases in the price of heating oil and propane. The bill also calls on the Department of Energy to promote the use of price arrangements, to protect consumers against volatile prices.

"Last winter's dramatic home heating oil price spike was a terrible burden on low and moderate income families and small businesses,"said Senator Kerry. "Families should not be asked to choose between paying their heating bills and putting food on the table. The idea here is simple and old: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With the kind of timely, comprehensive evaluation that this legislation calls for, and the creation of a home heating oil reserve for New England, we will lessen the chance that we will be "caught by surprise" again.

The price of residential heating oil in Massachusetts averaged $.98 per gallon in October 1999 and slowly rose to $1.19 by mid-January 2000. However, by February the price reached $2.03 across the state. More than 7 million households rely on heating fuel to keep warm during cold Northeastern winters – it is as basic to those households as water and food. Such high prices are especially hard on low-income families and the working poor; families who do not qualify for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), but who nonetheless struggle to make ends meet. The passage of the Energy Act of 2000 should help prevent this situation from reoccurring.

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