Oct. 17--Hurricane-related damage to Gulf Coast natural gas facilities will cost Inland Empire homeowners and businesses this winter, with heating prices expected to rise sharply.

The federal Energy Information Administration has predicted that home heating bills will increase by an average of 48 percent nationwide this year.

Locally, the cost to heat homes and businesses with natural gas could jump as much as 55 percent this winter, said Southern California Gas Company spokesman Peter Hidalgo.

Among consumers, the poor and the elderly on fixed incomes will be hardest hit, experts said.

"We've never had prices this high and it's never happened this quickly," said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, which helps administer low- income heating programs.

"For low-income families, this will truly be a crisis."

Such predictions have prompted several anxious conversations at the Josephine Knopf Senior Citizen Center in Fontana, said Betty Wicker, 77.

"I really don't know what I'm going to do," she said. "I use the heat as little as possible, but if the prices go up again, it's going to be really hard. The government really needs to put a cap on prices."

Wolfe's agency has asked Congress to more than double its annual budget for heating assistance in anticipation that a record number of Americans may need help paying their bills.

In addition, the California Alternative Rates for Energy program can provide a utility bill discount of 20 percent to qualifying households.

Applicants must meet minimum income guidelines. For instance, a household of one or two people with an annual income of $24,200 could qualify for assistance, said Gil Alexander, a spokesman for Southern California Edison.

Low-income households can also get help making their homes more efficient in the use of energy, including replacing natural gas heaters or repairing poorly sealed windows, Hidalgo said.

Furnaces and water heaters account for 85 percent of natural gas usage in a typical home, with furnaces consuming the largest amount of natural gas. So Cal Gas customers who slip on a sweater and lower their thermostat by three to five degrees can save 10 to 20 percent on their gas bill, Hidalgo said.

Bills probably will rise for Southern California Edison customers, even if they don't use electricity to heat their homes, Alexander said.

More than half of Edison's electricity is generated using natural gas. Edison has seen an increase in costs over the past few months and will need to pass that increase along to its customers. The increase is expected to be about 15 percent and could hit customers after the first of the year, Alexander said.

Still, executives with social service agencies said the winter bills aren't the only challenge facing the poor and elderly.

Ray Mastalish, deputy director for senior services at the Riverside County Office on Aging, said he's still trying to help people meet their summer air-conditioning costs.

Most people won't start grappling with looming winter bills for another month, Mastalish said.

UTILITY ASSISTANCE: Several agencies may help people meet rising home-heating costs.

--CARE electricity utility enrollment: (800) 798-5723

--CARE natural gas utility enrollment: (800) 427-2200

--California Community Services and Development utility assistance: (866) 675-6623

--Direct Assistance Program: (800) 331-7593

--Southern California Edison: www.sce.com

--Southern California Gas Company: www.socalgas.com

By Chris Richard and Melissa Eiselein

Cox News Service contributed to this report.