Nova Scotians worry about increased costs as energy prices soar

As winter approaches, the jump in energy prices continues to worry homeowners.

Tom Richard can already feel a winter chill in the air.

The Dartmouth, N.S., resident spent Wednesday morning stringing up some Christmas lights outside his home and shared a holiday wish for oil executives and lawmakers.

"Perhaps the oil companies...can give us a little break. A cut in the taxes maybe?" said Richard. "The price of everything is just ridiculous right now."

Richard heats his home with an oil furnace and lately his bills have more than doubled from what they were just a few years ago.

In Halifax, the average price per litre of furnace oil sits at $2.20 per litre -- up 13 cents compared to last week.

It hurts to think about the increased cost, so Richard is looking at ways to immediately save. He knows he'll eventually have to get off oil and find a cheaper and greener heating alternative.

"We'll be keeping the thermostat down to a minimum of probably 65 degrees," said Richard. "It's what you got to do, but we're Canadians, so we can tough it out, right?"

As winter approaches, Nova Scotia opposition leaders are calling on the Tim Houston government to assist low-to-middle-class Nova Scotians who rely on oil to heat their homes.

Liberal leader Zach Churchill says the government needs to move and put some support on the table to help lower to middle-income Nova Scotians.

“While other provinces are helping people access more affordable heating options, the Houston government is holding onto money that could help Nova Scotians,” said Churchill.

In September, the federal government announced it was offering $120 million to the four Atlantic provinces to help households upgrade their heating systems to greener and more economical options.

"The provincial government and premier Houston were given $60 million from the federal government in September to help people get off of oil," said Churchill. "As we head into winter, they have not given out those funds yet to Nova Scotians. Now we're in the cold months and it's going to be very hard for people to transition off of oil now."

The minister of natural resources and renewables says the department is working with the federal government and they're almost ready to roll out funds, but are waiting on the Trudeau Liberals to signoff on the funding.

"We're waiting for the federal government to make the official announcement on that dollar figure for what we're going to be receiving in Nova Scotia," said Tory Rushton. "And we're ready to go as soon as we hear the announcement from the federal government."

There are provincial heating rebates available, like the Heating Assistance Rebate Program (HARP), which provides $200 to those eligible and the Home Energy Assistance Top-up (HEAT) Fund, a partnership between the province, Nova Scotia Power and the Salvation Army that offers $400 to eligible recipients.

Nova Scotia NDP leader Claudia Chender says Nova Scotians should take advantage of those supports, but she also wants to see the eligibility expanded and the funding increased to meet inflationary challenges.

"You can only get it if you're making extraordinarily little," said Chender. “It's a small amount of money and if you do get it, you get $200, which fills up a tenth of an oil tank these days. It's just not sufficient."