Main Street Dollars

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Households that lean on federal help to cover winter heating bills are about to be measured against one national yardstick instead of a patchwork of state-by-state estimates. The Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Community Services has told every state, the District of Columbia, tribal grantees and several territories that a set of income…

A utility-rate tracker counts 275 companies that have raised or proposed increases across 49 states

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A rate increase moving through a single state regulator’s docket rarely makes national news on its own. Tallied together, though, hundreds of those filings show how widespread higher electric and gas bills have become since early 2025. The Center for American Progress, working with the Natural Resources Defense Council, has spent more than a year…

National Grid wants $23.66 more a month from Massachusetts heating customers starting December 1

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Massachusetts regulators are still deciding whether National Grid can raise what it charges for natural gas delivery, and the outcome would land squarely in the middle of heating season. The Department of Public Utilities has not ruled on the case, but it has already put the higher rates on hold so its staff can pick…

Vermont’s largest electric utility raises rates 5.5 percent for 275,000 customers on October 1

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Green Mountain Power spent months defending a rate request that state regulators ultimately cut down before signing off on it. The fight over how much of the company’s storm-hardening budget belongs on customer bills is now settled, and the resulting increase reaches every residential and business account the company serves just as other Vermont energy…

Michigan approved a gas increase adding $2.87 a month to a typical DTE bill

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Michigan regulators granted DTE Gas less than half of the rate increase it asked for, and households on the other end of the meter will still pay more starting this heating season. The Michigan Public Service Commission’s order in Case No. U-21973, issued September 10, 2026, sets a specific dollar figure for what a typical…

The EIA forecasts heating oil at $5.66 a gallon this quarter, against $3.68 a year ago

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Household budgets built around a home heating oil tank are about to run into a federal number nobody controls. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s newest monthly market report projects how much more a gallon of heating oil delivered this winter will cost compared with the same three months a year earlier, and the gap is…

A stopgap signed September 2 funds the government through December 11, ruling out an October 1 shutdown

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Federal agencies moved through the last full week of September without the shutdown headlines that dominated Washington a year earlier. The reason traces back to a bill signed in the first days of the month, one that covers the date lawmakers and agency budget offices watch most closely: the start of a new fiscal year.…

States can excuse fewer people from the food stamp work clock after Congress cut the allowance to 8 percent

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A federal allotment that state SNAP agencies draw on every fiscal year to soften their toughest work rule has shrunk again. The allowance, which sets how many discretionary exemptions a state can hand out to adults facing the program’s three-month time limit, now stands at 8 percent of the affected caseload. USDA’s Food and Nutrition…

Rural Alaska’s food stamp maximum for a family of four reaches $2,027 on October 1

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Grocery budgets funded through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program do not move on a single national dial. How much a household can draw each month depends heavily on where it lives, and no state stretches that geography further than Alaska. Beginning October 1, 2026, the maximum monthly benefit for a household of four climbs to…

Hawaii is the one place where the food stamp maximum falls on October 1

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