The Salvation Army says it's getting more than a dozen calls a day from desperate people who cannot afford to heat their homes.

The price of heating oil is up 16 cents a litre from this time last year, a steep hike for anyone having to fill a home tank.

Though the Salvation Army has a couple of programs to help low-income people pay their heating bills, the organization cannot meet all the requests its getting from Nova Scotians.

"Certainly we are at a point now where over 1,000 applications come in during this short five-month period," Maj. Sharon Stinka said Wednesday, referring to the organization's Good Neighbour Energy Fund.

Under the program, qualified applicants can get $300 for heating fuel once every five years.

With energy bills soaring and few options for help, the Coalition for Affordable Energy said the effects on families are dramatic.

"We know about a lot of families who are separated because they don't have heat or they don't have lights," said Megan Leslie, the lawyer representing the lobby group.

"What happens is mom and the kids will go into the shelter system and dad goes to the men's shelter or couch surfs while they scrape together enough money to fill up the oil tank."

The Salvation Army also works with oil companies to offer emergency fuel. But with more than a dozen new calls a day, demand is exceeding supply.

Dave Collins, with Wilsons Fuels, one of the companies that donate fuel, said the Nova Scotia government should increase allowances for oil to those on welfare.