MONTPELIER, Vt. -
With temperatures being unseasonably warm across Vermont Tuesday, the idea of how to pay for your heat bill may not have been on your mind.
But winter is around the corner, and state lawmakers want to make sure help is available.
There's already a plan for electric.
Now they're working on natural gas.
On Tuesday a state board talked about what could be coming.
"The plan itself is structured with checks and balances," said Vermont Gas Systems Vice President, Supply & Regulatory Affairs Eillen Simollardes.
Vermont Gas Systems has proposed a plan that would require its customers to be 185% below poverty, the same as qualifying for LiHEAP and they would receive 20% off their bill.
That would impact about 20% of its Franklin and Chittenden county customers.
But who would pay for it?
Vermont Gas leaders say all customers, including those on the program, would pay about a $1.40 more a month.
The changes are in light of new legislation that Vermont passed in 2011.
It forces the state's largest natural gas company create a program to help those in need.
"It's troubling to me that we are attacking a fuel type that at a time and the least expensive fuel right now, natural gas, could end up bearing a disproportionate amount of the bill," said Simollardes.
State leaders want to finalize how the plan will work by early next year and they hope to have it in place by June.
