According to local heating assistance providers, more Lincoln County residents than ever are struggling to stay warm this winter. As frigid temperatures are set to continue, and with an application “backlog” slowing distribution of federal heating assistance dollars, local agencies are scrambling to fill the gap.
This season, the level of need for emergency heating assistance “is the highest I have seen in the last nine years that I’ve been administering fuel for CHIP,” said Brittany Gill, project manager for the Community Housing Improvement Project Inc.
Robert Clifford, co-founder of The Community Energy Fund of Lincoln County, said he has also observed an increase in heating assistance requests this year.
According to providers, while the high cost of living and cold weather were factors contributing to the high volume of requests, another major factor was a slower than usual rollout of federal heating assistance dollars.
Early in the season, residents reported trouble getting an appointment to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides millions in federal funds for heating and cooling assistance nationwide each year, said Clifford and Gill.
In Lincoln County, LIHEAP funding has been administered by Midcoast Maine Community Action since 2023. The agency accepts applications for need-based heating assistance starting in July, and ultimately distributes funds to qualifying residents of both Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties, said the organization’s Community Services Director Mike Pepin.
Midcoast Maine Community Action President and CEO Claire Berkowitz acknowledged the agency is dealing with a “backlog” of applications this season. Now in their second year administering the LIHEAP program for the area, the team is contending with a higher volume of applications this season than last – and processing them with a smaller crew and a new software system, said Berkowitz.
“It’s a perfect storm,” she said.
As of mid-January, the team was still processing applications received in the summer, said Pepin.
“We haven’t even taken any more additional applications from before the season started,” excluding applications accepted during a walk-in event earlier this season, Pepin said.
Berkowitz said staffing was the largest factor contributing to the backlog and pointed to the discontinuation of COVID-19 era funding as an explanation.
“Some of that money was helping to provide more staffing,” she said. “We had more people working for us last year in this program than we could this year under the grant. So that’s where our backlog is – it’s really not from a lack of anything but people.”
Currently, Midcoast Maine Community Action has three employees dedicated to processing the more than 1,500 LIHEAP applications they have received already this season, and one administrative assistant fielding phone calls, of which the agency received 2,000 in December alone, Pepin said.
Pepin and Berkowitz also attributed the backlog to challenges with a new application-processing system. The program was rolled out for LIHEAP administrators across Maine by MaineHousing, which oversees benefits at the state level.
“That was a change, for staff to learn and work out the kinks of that program … the beginning of the process didn’t go as smoothly,” Berkowitz said.
The organization looked into hiring contractors to help process applications, Berkowitz said, only to find that federal stipulations of the LIHEAP program would not allow that measure.
Midcoast Maine Community Action also rolled out an online scheduling platform for application appointments this summer, said Pepin. Soon after the scheduling platform went live, every appointment hour for the entire month of February was immediately booked, he said – and that was in midsummer.
A higher volume of applications this year is consistent with statewide trends, said Scott Thistle, director of communications at MaineHousing.
Since the pre-COVID-19 heating season, applications for heating assistance have increased from about 50,000 to more than 70,000 statewide, he said.
Meanwhile, Thistle said, the discontinuation of pandemic-era funding has been felt in the LIHEAP program.
Aside from pandemic-era assistance, the amount of money awarded to Maine for heating assistance has varied little over the years despite the growing volume of applications, Thistle said. In 2019, Maine received a total grant of $38.3 million. In 2025, the state received $40.7 million – an increase of $2.4 million or 6.2%, while in the same period, the application volume statewide rose by approximately 40%,
“Overall, we’re seeing increased demand and increased approval, but the baseline for the program hasn’t gone up – so we’re essentially taking the same sized pie and cutting it into smaller pieces,” Thistle said.
LIHEAP is not designed for use as an emergency heating assistance provider, though other emergency programs through community action partnerships and MaineHousing do exist, said Thistle.
In Lincoln County, town general assistance administrators and CHIP help connect residents with emergency heating assistance when they are facing the possibility of running out of fuel.
CHIP provides once-a-season emergency fuel deliveries. This season, the organization fulfilled 130 requests in November, the first month the service is available. In mid-January, Gill said she expected to reach 300 fuel deliveries by the end of the month.
“The demand is very high,” she said.
Clifford also said that, with users struggling to secure LIHEAP application appointments, the Community Energy Fund began administering aid in earnest earlier in the season than is typical.
“We had heard, even in November, that a lot of our clients couldn’t get an appointment until April, so we knew that was really going to put a push on our efforts to try to help them out earlier,” he said.
Because applying to LIHEAP involves some lag time even in the best of times, smaller community organizations like CHIP and the Community Energy Fund should ideally function in the in-between, to see residents through until they need aid, said Gill.
However, with wait times longer than normal, a larger burden was being placed on community organizations, which Gill compared to food pantries.
“Can you imagine if food stamps weren’t working? Would local food pantries be able to meet that need? It’s unlikely,” Gill said.
Distributing emergency fuel assistance is further complicated by low availability of vendors, some of whom are dealing with a shortage of drivers. Often, vendors are unable to complete same-day deliveries due to staffing challenges, said Berkowitz and Gill.
At Midcoast Maine Community Action, Berkowitz and Pepin said they were optimistic that the new computer system would ultimately streamline operations, making the agency more efficient despite its initially complicated rollout. In the long term, Pepin said, the agency is striving to help improve housing and community networks to, they hope, gradually decrease the need for heating assistance.
The agency has various funding avenues available for residents in need, Pepin said, and they will continue to work to process applications. People facing emergency situations, according to Thistle, can also contact Midcoast Maine Community Action, who may have alternate avenues to pursue for aid. Acknowledging the advice would not help residents immediately, Thistle encouraged those in need to sign up as early as July for benefits.
“I just want people to hear that we are looking at solutions and we hear peoples’ concerns,” said Berkowitz. “Our staff, their hearts are big, and their work ethic is strong.”
Clifford was optimistic about the Community Energy Fund’s ability to help fill the gap, aided by a strong network among vendors, community members, and a strong working relationship with CHIP.
The Community Energy Fund cannot provide emergency, same-day assistance, but the agency has the resources to continue supporting residents throughout the winter, said Clifford.
“We’re up to the task,” he said.
