PHILADELPHIA, PA – Congressman Chaka Fattah today announced a new program that will offer deeply discounted home heating oil to low and modest income residents in Philadelphia and surrounding counties.

The program, which the Congressman brokered with CITGO and Citizens Energy Corp. of Boston as partners, will be available to residents who have exhausted their benefit under the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for this heating season.

The government of Venezuela, which owns CITGO through its national oil company, will make 5 million gallons of heating oil available for 60 percent of the retail price. Up to 200 gallons of oil will be available to each eligible resident.

“We have developed an extraordinary partnership involving the public sector, the private sector and the nonprofit sector,” said Congressman Fattah. “It will produce real help in the depths of the winter heating season for tens of thousands of people in Philadelphia and the nearby counties.”

The public sector involves the Congressman’s office and the government of Venezuela, which has provided the oil through CITGO, a century-old U.S. petroleum company owned by the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA.

The nonprofit Energy Coordinating Agency will oversee distribution of oil in the Philadelphia area under contract with nonprofit Citizens Energy. The program covers Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

The federal benefit has remained flat in spite of skyrocketing energy prices, sharply cutting the buying power of LIHEAP. As a result, LIHEAP households have been exhausting their benefit at a record pace, leaving them without an energy safety net during the coldest months of the year. 

Efforts to double LIHEAP's budget have repeatedly failed in Congress. The Citizens Energy/CITGO Oil Heat Program will help extend a lifeline to families in need at a time they're getting a cold shoulder from Washington.

Today’s ceremony was held at the home of Geraldine “Geri” Shields, a 64-year-old grandmother on disability who has been a LIHEAP recipient for about two decades. Ms. Shields received the first delivery of oil under the new program from her regular dealer, Vincent Ferrante and Sons.

The contract for Philadelphia area oil deliveries was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Chairman and President of Citizens Energy, and Felix Rodriguez, CEO of CITGO Petroleum Corporation.

Congressman Fattah said, “We will continue to search for resources for the working families of Philadelphia and the area. This is a tremendous find.”

Also attending today was Bernardo Alvarez-Herrera, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States.

“What we are doing here in Pennsylvania, reaching out to help low-income people, is consistent with what our Venezuelan government is trying to do at home: improve the lives of people who have historically been left behind,” said Alvarez-Herrera.

Felix Rodriguez, CEO of CITGO, tied in the low-cost oil shipments to a humanitarian response to recent weather events in the United States.

“After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, oil companies were asked to help Americans in need. We are happy to respond, by offering people here in Philadelphia help this winter, and we hope that no one has to make sacrifices to stay warm,” said Rodriguez.

Citizens Energy and Kennedy have arranged for discounted CITGO oil throughout the northeastern United States this winter after the initial deal was arranged by Congressman Bill Delahunt of Boston, Mass. Other areas receiving the oil have been the Bronx, Rhode Island and Maine.

"We're proud to work with my good friend Chaka Fattah and CITGO to help relieve the burden of high energy prices on the poor,” Kennedy said. “Congressman Fattah has devoted his whole career to making sure not only his constituents but working families everywhere have the resources they need to succeed in life. CITGO has shown extraordinary leadership in demonstrating that an oil company can watch out for people in need and not just its bottom line. Together, we're working to make sure that no one is left out in the cold."}