The fund, which helps residents struggling to pay their power bills, ran out about two weeks ago, five weeks before the end of the financial year.
More money will be available next month.
A rush of applications in May and a decision to give each applicant more towards spiralling power bills meant the money did not last as long as expected, Anglican Family Care director Nicola Taylor said yesterday.
People desperate for assistance were not being turned away, she said.
"We can't just say: `You are not eligible for any assistance, go away'. We are trying to find out their whole financial picture and help them in other ways, with food from the foodbank, for example."
There were often multiple reasons for people's financial pressures, including rising rents and the increasing cost of food, petrol, electricity and heating fuels, she said.
The electricity fund rules are that people can only apply once a year, unless they have special circumstances.
Until recently, the maximum grant was $150, and $300 for people on a budget advice programme.
But earlier this year the maximums were increased to $250 and $400.
Mrs Taylor said the fund had still been expected to last until the end of the financial year, until a flood of applications arrived last month.
Almost $10,000 was distributed during May, almost double the $5870 distributed in May last year.
Anglican Family Care child and family support services manager Kathy Dowall said applicants had begun to present with much higher power bill debts than in the past.
The amounts she had dealt with varied from $80 to $1200, with bills of $500-$600 incurred in one month not uncommon.
Many people asked for help when they got behind with their bills and were threatened with having their power cut off.
She expected to see more large bills.
"It is going to be a hard winter."
Anglican Family Care and other agencies tried to advise applicants about the cheapest way to keep warm, Ms Dowall said.
Some had no idea it would cost hundreds of dollars a month to run a heater "day and night". But she said others did not have enough money to go around.
"There will always be a group of people who will never manage."
Electricity fund facts
• What: The Dunedin City Council Consumer Electricity Fund
• History: Set up by the council in 1998 after it sold the Waipori power station.
• Aims: To help low income residents meet their power bills
• What is the fund worth: $167,000 this year (was $200,000 last year). About $25,000 goes on administration fees.
• Who administers it: Anglican Family Care.
• Who distributes it: Anglican Family Care; Presbyterian Support Otago; St Vincent de Paul; Salvation Army; Corpac (a mental health support agency); Dunedin Budget Advice.
• Who needs it: 642 people in the 12 months to the end of June, 2007.
• Who were they: Beneficiaries (69%), low income workers (20.7%), students (2%), the elderly (2%), other (6.3%).
• Where they lived: South Dunedin (24.7%), City (13.3%), North Dunedin (11.2%), Hill suburbs (10.1%), Southern hills (8.4%), Taieri (7.1%), Kaikorai (6%), Dunedin coast (5.6%), Shiel Hill (4.5%), West Harbour (4.2%), East Otago (3.1%), Otago peninsula (1.4%).
