WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration yesterday said it has no plans to ask Congress for additional funds to help low-income families and financially stretched seniors deal with rapidly escalating home heating bills.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is projecting that this winter's natural gas prices will run as much as 77 percent more than last winter in parts of the Midwest (Western Pennsylvania utilities predict increases of as much as 45 percent over last winter); home heating in the Northeast could rise by as much as 33 percent, while electricity in the South could go up 18 percent, the department's analysts said. That could mean that thousands of households won't be able to afford enough heat or electricity.

Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman yesterday touted a new "Energy Hog" campaign designed to persuade more Americans to conserve energy.

But he said asking Congress to increase money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program "is not on the agenda" for the administration "at this point."

Spurred by the successes with Smokey the Bear, recognized by 95 percent of adults in the campaign to stop forest fires, and McGruff the Crime Dog, the Ad Council, the Alliance to Save Energy and the Energy Department yesterday announced a coordinated effort to promote a new mascot: a somewhat-hideous cartoon hog, with hairy snout and pointy ears and snarling expression. Through radio, print and TV ads, the goal is to tell Americans to turn off lights, turn down the thermostat, drive more slowly, insulate their hot water heaters, use energy-efficient light bulbs, add insulation, clean furnace filters, inflate their tires and run dishwasher and clothes washers only with full loads.

Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said 50 percent of all energy used in the United States is wasted.

Mr. Bodman said that because of the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the increasing demand for energy, Americans can expect to see higher energy costs.

The home heating assistance program has grown extensively-- but not enough to keep up with demand. In 1985, Congress granted $2.1 billion. Last year, the total was $1.9 billion. In February, President Bush asked for another decrease, although in 1981 the program reached 2.5 million more people than it did in 2003.

Asked if the administration would tap into the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve this winter if needed to keep supplies adequate, Mr. Bodman said, "We are prepared to do what is necessary with respect to strategic reserves. Certainly the president has made his views known with respect to the strategic oil reserve."

Although he praised the Paris-based International Energy Agency for increasing supplies from emergency reserves and hinting that it might add more, he said consumers' first line of defense will not be federal help but instead how well they learn to conserve.

He said his department was making "energy-saving expert teams" of individuals certified in the use of the department's energy-efficiency software available to high-energy-using businesses to show them how to save money and that government agencies, too, are under orders to save energy.

But he said no percentage has been set as a goal.