WASHINGTON — There's a bit of relief because of unusually balmy winter weather, but heating bills — sometimes double what they were a year ago — nevertheless are straining household budgets from New England to the Midwest and Northern Plains states.

State and local agencies were scrambling to help people cope with the first round of bills in what is expected to be an expensive winter.

"You send them what you can. That's all you can do," said Eileen Mallee of Chicago, who recently received a December natural gas bill of almost $500 for her three-bedroom bungalow, more than double last year.

Illinois, like much of the eastern half of the country, has seen unseasonably warm weather in recent days. The bills now landing in people's mailboxes reflect heating needs in early December when Chicago suffered the coldest weather in 63 years.

"People were using a lot more gas," says Elizabeth Castro, spokeswoman for Peoples Energy in Illinois.

In suburban Maryland outside the nation's capital, fuel oil deliveries frequently brought a tab of $500 or more to fill a 275-gallon tank, reflecting the high cost of fuel. With temperatures in the 50s there was hope some of that fill-up will last.

The federal Energy Information Administration recently revised its winter forecast and predicted residential heating costs — both for users of natural gas and fuel oil — will be slightly less than had been predicted six weeks ago because of the warmer weather.

Still, the agency estimated that people using natural gas will be paying on average about $1,000 for the heating season this year, or 35 percent more than last winter. Households using fuel oil will pay on average of $1,474, or 23 percent more than a year ago.

Only three winters ago, those same bills averaged $600 and $950 respectively, according to EIA, which acknowledged that some families will be paying considerably more than the average, especially if the winter turns a lot colder.

Hardest hit are the poor, but prices have risen so rapidly that this winter even some middle-income working families are being forced to juggle priorities and, in some cases, search out government help.

"We're heading into the really bad part of the winter and I'm terrified for the elders and the children and the disabled who have already exhausted their (energy assistance) benefits," says John Drew, of the Action for Boston Community Development, a nonprofit group in Massachusetts that helps the poor.

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, which represents state energy offices, estimates more than 5.6 million people will file for federal help to pay heating bills. Congress has provided $2.1 billion for the program, and the Bush administration recently released $100 million for immediate use — amounts Wolfe says are about the same as in past years when the need was far less.

"It's only January ... when the next bills come a lot of families will be unable to pay," says Wolfe.

In Warwick, R.I., Denise Bloomingburgh and her family have been wearing sweaters. When she's home alone she's kept the thermostat at 60 degrees in their two-story frame house to save fuel oil. A $350 oil bill is on the table from two weeks ago; only part of it has been paid.

"It's more than doubled," Bloomingburgh says. "It's crazy, how much it's jumped."

The warmer weather has brought a little relief, but she worries about the weeks to come when the New England winter is all but certain to roar back.

Last week, Bloomingburgh got some help from an unusual source — Venezuela. The Venezuelan-owned Citco Petroleum Corp. is providing 12 million gallons of heating oil to cash-strapped families at a 40 percent discount.

"This is really going to help us a lot," she said.

Only about 9 percent of homes are heated by fuel oil. Most use natural gas, which soared in cost after the Gulf Coast hurricanes disrupted supplies. A fourth of the Gulf's natural gas production remains shut down.

The recent warm spell has caused a drop in demand, meaning more gas in storage. Wholesale gas prices have dropped 40 percent from their post-hurricane highs; some utilities have lowered their prices, at least for January.

But, to many consumers, this year's prices are still a shock.

"My latest bill was $359, and the highest bill I had last winter was $285," says Sissy Baker, 45, of Cincinnati, who says she's working overtime and a part-time job to make ends meet. Otherwise, "I wouldn't have made it," she said, adding that she's worried about the next bill when the cold returns.

In the Ohio suburb of Milford outside Cincinnati, Julie Ray, 50, says she's on an even billing system with her gas company, so her heating costs will be spread out over 12 months. Nonetheless, she says, she's keeping the thermostat down.

"It makes me angry," says Ray. "I think we are being gouged."

Cinergy, the utility that serves the Cincinnati area, said that because of the warmer weather gas prices will be 11 percent lower for January than December but 37 percent higher than in January a year ago.

Utilities aren't making any more profits off the higher price, says Paul Wilkinson, an economist for the American Gas Association.

About 70 percent of the retail cost reflects the wholesale cost of the gas. A few years ago that portion was only 50 percent, but fuel prices have soared while other costs have remained generally unchanged.

In Albany, N.Y., Charlotte Curry, 69, a cane in one hand, was getting her supplies at the Focus Interfaith Food Pantry, a church-sponsored food bank, instead of the grocery store where she normally shops.

"I just paid $500 for my electric bill," said Curry, who is on a fixed income and has electric heat. "It takes out my whole income. ... I've got to keep warm because I'm a diabetic."

The food bank operator, the Rev. Debra Jameson, says more and more people have been coming in as they face high heating bills even with the mild weather.

And she fears things will get worse.

"In the hard-core months of winter, when we get into the bitter cold, we're going to see people in dire need," she says.