With energy costs soaring and winter arriving in a few months, state legislators on Monday approved a home heating assistance plan with less federal money than last year for nearly 97,000 low-income residents in Connecticut.

Financial aid for home heating assistance ballooned last year and in 2020 with federal pandemic money. But it’s not available this year and as energy prices climb, more residents quality for financial help.

As a result, low-income residents who pay a disproportionately large share of their incomes for home heating face benefit cuts that could amount to thousands of dollars.

“It’s going to be tough for a lot of low-income folks,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown.

The General Assembly’s Appropriations, Energy and Technology and Human Services committees backed a plan by Gov. Ned Lamont to spend $79.2 million from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It’s down from $140.1 million last year due to pandemic aid and $81.6 million in 2019, before COVID-19.

“We recognize a reduction in benefit levels is never easy, but it is important that the proposed benefit levels align with the anticipated level of federal funding that is expected to be available,” Jeffrey Beckham, secretary of the state Office of Policy and Management, told state lawmakers.

Majority Democrats rejected a Republican proposal to tap $191.5 million. Democrats said the committees do not have the legal authority to supersede the state budget approved by the General Assembly in May.

Sen. Kevin Kelly of Stratford, the Senate Republican leader, and Rep. Vincent Candelora of North Branford, the House Republican leader, said their proposed funding would not have required full legislative approval because their plan would have tapped money from a fund already approved by the legislature.

“Democratic lawmakers had the opportunity to help Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents, as well as middle class families struggling to afford home heating oil,” they said.

More federal funding may be available. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged Congress to spend $200 million in addition to $4 billion already earmarked. He said he does not know what Connecticut’s share would be in the additional federal spending, but the Northeast would likely get most of the money.

The number of households who rely on heating assistance is growing as the price of oil heat and natural gas skyrocket and as eligibility rules were changed, making it easier to participate. The state Department of Social Services says 96,600 households are projected to require heating assistance this year, up nearly 19% from 2019.

Supply and demand for energy were skewed during the pandemic when businesses were ordered shut and people stayed home. Markets were upended by the invasion of Ukraine in February by Russia, an exporter of natural gas.

The residential price of natural gas has jumped by one-third from December 2021 to May, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The retail price of heating oil, according to the EIA, was about $1.91 a gallon in May 2020 during the worst of the pandemic when energy prices fell steeply as demand dropped. This past May heating oil peaked at $5.97 a gallon and is projected to decline to $4.42 a gallon by December, still more than double the price two years ago.