Bart Pals has seen scores of broken furnaces, leaky windows and old houses without a shred of insulation during his 20 years as a home inspector helping poor Iowans tame utility bills.

But this fall, with the threat of budget-busting home heating costs looming, Pals is encountering something new.

"I've never seen people as spooked as they are now." said Pals, who evaluates homes for North Iowa Community Action - a non-profit agency providing weatherization assistance to low-income households in nine counties surrounding Mason City.

"People are just scrambling to figure out what to do," he said.

More than 85,000 Iowa households that receive benefits from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, also are eligible for weatherization help. But the $15 million that's available annually to pay for Iowa's Weatherization Assistance Program is only enough to help 2,000 households each year.

State officials project that another 7,000 households will sign up for heating assistance this winter.

"Some people could be on a waiting list for some time," said Jim Newton, state manager for the weatherization program.


LIHEAP will provide an average benefit of $317 per household this winter, unchanged from last year. Weatherization could help stretch those scarce dollars.

Newton said low-income households that received weatherization assistance saved an average of $389 on their utility bills during 2004. Some local agencies reported savings topping $700.

North Iowa Community Action worked on Jim Buck's 88-year-old Clear Lake home in the fall of 2003. Workers replaced his furnace and refrigerator, installed 15 inches of insulation in his attic, replaced two windows and put in a new basement door.

Buck said his bill was cut in half.

"I was lucky I got on that list, that's all I can say," said Buck, 82, a retired meatpacking worker who lives in the home his parents bought in 1939. "I couldn't have done any of it myself. I knew I needed a furnace, but hell, I couldn't afford one."

Agencies decide who gets help first using data compiled by utility companies that track energy usage among LIHEAP recipients. Homes with health and safety issues, such as a malfunctioning furnace, get put at the top of the list.

In the Mason City area, chosen homes get a visit first from Pals.

Pals runs diagnostic tests on the furnace and appliances and uses a blower to determine the location of energy-sapping air leaks. He feeds the data into a computer program that determines what work should be done.

North Iowa Community Action employs three two-person crews to do the work. They get to about 150 homes each year, according to Mike Creeden, the agency's weatherization manager.




NEWS TRACKER: LIHEAP Funding

An update on issues in the news

Last we knew :

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a federally-funded effort that helps low-income households pay utility bills. Last winter, more than 85,000 Iowa households received assistance, which averaged $317 over the course of the winter.

What's new now :

Congress is poised to approve roughly $2 billion in funding for LIHEAP nationwide, just about the same amount that was spent last year. Iowa gets a $34.5 million share. But with home heating costs expected to skyrocket, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and others have called on Congress to increase funding nationwide by $1.2 billion.