Congress Releases $23 Million to Mass. LIHEAP Projects
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON – Congress has released more than $23 million to Massachusetts from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help the state’s community action programs gear up in time for winter.
On Wednesday, Congress passed a measure releasing an $811.6 million advance fund to LIHEAP programs nationwide. “This is really a stop-gap measure so programs can get started,” said Mark Wolfe, director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association.
The House and the Senate Appropriations Committee have approved $1.7 billion for LIHEAP in the fiscal year that began two weeks ago, plus $300 million in emergency funds, for a 21.4 percent increase from last year, Wolfe said.
LIHEAP provides emergency grants to offset heating costs for low-income residents. It is funded through the Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Children and Families. States (or tribal governments) makes payments to the eligible family or directly to the utility company to help pay the family’s energy bills.
If the total LIHEAP funding is approved as expected, Massachusetts would receive upwards of $70 million, $12 million more than originally expected, according to Phil Hailer, communications director for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
Hailer said the federal government has not yet distributed the $23 million to the state’s community action programs, which help people apply for and receive the grants. Hailer said the state provided $90 million in LIHEAP aid to more than 133,000 households last winter, when temperatures were 7 percent colder than normal and heating prices sky-rocketed due to a heating oil shortage. “The biggest challenge was there was so much money [from additional emergency funds], we wanted to make sure everyone eligible got service,” he said.
This winter may not be as costly, the Department of Energy reported this month. The Energy Information Administration’s winter fuels outlook said inventories of key heating fuels such as natural gas are higher than they normally are at this time of year, and crude oil prices are lower. Moreover, electricity demand – and therefore cost – is expected to fall about 1 percent this winter.
Still, local programs across the state have already begun accepting aid requests for this winter, and Hailer said they would use the $23 million to begin processing them.
“We’re in a glorious Indian Summer, so we’ve been fortunate so far,” he said, “but of course it can turn on a dime, so we’re ramped up and ready to go.”
