Two agency directors who have been asked by Gov. Paul LePage to come up with a plan to address a $16 million shortfall in federal home-heating aid say they will suggest an approach used by LePage’s predecessor.

Michael Stoddard of the Efficiency Maine Trust and Dale McCormick of the Maine State Housing Authority said Friday that the community-level approach of former Gov. John Baldacci is the best they can offer.

“I don’t have any dollars that can be used to buy heating oil,” said Stoddard, although Efficiency Maine will shift $5 million that was earmarked to help low-income Mainers buy high-efficiency refrigerators into a program to weatherize homes of low-income residents who have electric heat.

That effort will produce long-term savings, but it won’t provide immediate help with energy purchases, he said.

LePage said Thursday that he has asked Stoddard and McCormick to develop a contingency plan in case Congress does not allocate more money for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. He said he wants the plan delivered Tuesday.

The governor’s request came as states got an additional $845 million in home heating aid. The government allotted $6.2 million more for Maine, bringing the total to about $30 million, compared with last year’s $56.5 million.

Last year, about 63,500 Maine households, with an average annual income of $16,300, got benefits averaging about $804, the governor’s office said.

Calls to Adrienne Bennett, the governor’s spokeswoman, were not returned Friday night.

McCormick, whose agency helps administer the federal heating assistance program, said the state developed a community-based energy plan in the summer of 2008, when oil prices rose to nearly $5 a gallon.

McCormick said the Baldacci administration’s plan called for opening public buildings as “warming centers,” instituting “neighbor-to-neighbor” programs to encourage checks on low-income residents and the elderly, and gearing up information programs to connect residents with energy funds that many towns maintain.

Although officials feared a heating emergency in the winter of 2008-09, energy prices dropped sharply before cold weather set in.

McCormick said she now plans to analyze the current level of LIHEAP funding and determine how much less the state will have to help low-income residents buy oil and other fuels or pay electricity bills that shoot up because of heating needs.

McCormick said the state was able to carry some of last year’s money into this year, so the shortfall might not be quite as large as LePage has said.

She also said federal stimulus money that has been used over the past two years to help weatherize homes may reduce demand somewhat.

“We don’t think it’s as bad as the governor thinks it is, but we don’t know,” she said.

Stoddard noted that LIHEAP funds have almost never been enough to meet the need, especially when fuel costs rise and winters are colder than normal.

“It’s a bigger gap than we can fill with federal dollars,” he said.

“I can do my piece” with the weatherization effort, Stoddard said, but he has told LePage’s staff that the Efficiency Maine Trust doesn’t have any cash to steer into oil purchases.

McCormick said LePage should be familiar with Baldacci’s approach because he was mayor of Waterville when it was rolled out and some of the initiatives were put into place in that city.

One advantage this time, she said, is that the state now has its 211 Maine, which enables residents to call that number and get information about available state services.

McCormick said the report that she and Stoddard will deliver will ask LePage to lead a fundraising effort for “Keep ME Warm,” a fund run by the Maine Community Action Association that aims to help people who might not be eligible for LIHEAP funding.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com