Windsor families needing help to pay hydro bills
More families in Windsor are needing help to pay their hydro bills, than ever before.
The Keep the Heat program helps low-income households pay their energy bills. It has seen a 12 per cent increase in applications since last year.
The program helped 1,261 households in Windsor and Essex County since January, and it expects that number to grow in the winter months.
"These are low income families that are struggling to pay rent and utilities," said Anna Angelidis, the executive director of Housing Information Services. "You see from some of the households that we are assisting with their housing needs, utilities sometimes are equal, if not more than the rent they pay."
Many of the families that use the service are concerned with the increase in bills, when their income remains the same. That's no different for Keep the Heat, who also has limited funds.
"We are continually trying to balance the need for the service, the demand for the service and the funding that we have available," Angelidis said.
She said the average household received a total of $675 from Keep the Heat to pay off union gas and hydro bills. The program has had to give out less money, because of the increase in applicants. The programs started in 2004 and Angelidis said it has kept people from having to live on the street.
Cherie Beneteau is finding her own way to deal with the increase in hydro bills. She has stopped using her furnace to bring down the costs of her hydro bill. Beneteau carpooled to Toronto to protest the costs of the bills.
"There's people without food," Beneteau said. "There's people that have CPAT machines, that don't have hydro to use their machines. I am fighting for them too. A lot of them can't come. They can't afford to come to rallies, so I feel like I'm one of the people that can be their voice."