{"id":18312,"date":"2014-02-06T13:47:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T19:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=18312"},"modified":"2014-02-06T14:21:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T20:21:28","slug":"federal-government-sends-help-to-low-income-families-burned-by-propane-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/02\/06\/federal-government-sends-help-to-low-income-families-burned-by-propane-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Releases Millions to Aid Low-Income Oklahomans Burned By Propane Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PatrioticTank\"<\/a><\/p>\n

jpmatth \/ Flickr<\/p>\n<\/div>

Propane prices fell slightly this week<\/a>, from a record high of more than $4 last week. But many of the 400,000 or so Oklahomans who rely on propane for home heating and cooking need more relief than that.<\/p>

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services began taking applications for the Energy Crisis Assistance Program on Tuesday, after the federal government released an additional $4 million for Oklahoma.<\/p>

As Tulsa NewsOn6<\/em>‘s Dan Bewley reports<\/a>, for many, the help can’t come soon enough:<\/p>\n

“This is our one space heater that we have and it keeps the living room, the bathroom, and the kitchen and part of the hallway done,” Johnson said.<\/p>

The Johnsons are like thousands of Oklahomans who are struggling to pay their propane bill. The cost of the fuel has gone from $1.85 a gallon in the fall to nearly $5 a gallon in late January.<\/p>

“I’m worried about paying for it because I can’t do it, I seriously can’t do it,” Johnson said. “I have a very short income right now, it’s a very small income and it’s hard to do it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>

People who meet certain income guidelines and are three days or closer to running out of propane can qualify for a one-time payment of up to $650.<\/p>

The Edmond Sun <\/em>reports\u00a0DHS also has about $600,000<\/a> in donations from Oklahoma utility companies to work with.<\/p>

Money will be available until it runs out. ECAP is part of the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program funded by Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Propane prices fell slightly this week, from a record high of more than $4 last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":18319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[66,583,545],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18312"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18329,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18312\/revisions\/18329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}