Record high heat causing more issues among those economically disadvantaged.
Duke University Spotlights the Essential Role of LIHEAP in the Lives of Millions During Pandemic
LIHEAP was under the spotlight again in May, this time being appreciated in academia by the Nicolas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at DUKE University, recognized in a study for measurably proving year in and out to be “an essential form of relief for those forced to make difficult decisions around how to pay for energy, food, healthcare, housing, water, or other essentials. This policy brief examines the history of LIHEAP and how it operates, the program’s response during periods of crisis…(and) research opportunities for extending the reach of this vital source of energy bill assistance.”
Underscoring the program’s continued relevance and necessity in the introductory remarks of their brief, the experts at DUKE noted that “the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the hardships faced by low-income and minority families and individuals especially, putting them at heightened risk of illness and job loss. As a result, households that were already unable to make ends meet are now facing increased health care costs and a reduced or lost income.”
Under a specific section of the study titled “LIHEAP FUNDING RESPONSES TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC,” successful statistics in spite of the sadness of the backdrop of lives lost focused in part on lives saved because of the program, noting impressively that boasting some of its best funding numbers in years, “from FY2017 to FY2021, the average LIHEAP appropriation was $3.6 billion.30 The peak funding over that time period was just over $4.6 billion in FY2020, when the initial approximately $3.7 billion release was supplemented by a $900 million release through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Still, focusing on the forms of LIHEAP Assistance and how the aforementioned funding is disbursed locally, DUKE University’s Nicolas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions found that “the largest share of LIHEAP assistance goes towards heating, with a much smaller share going towards cooling; The second largest share of LIHEAP assistance goes towards summer, winter, and year-round crisis assistance.” Putting those findings in context with actual data, the study found that “nationally, 75% of LIHEAP funds went towards cooling, heating, and crisis assistance from 2001 to 2019.” Analyzing the impact on specific demographics within those regions studied, Duke revealed that “those affected by job and income loss during the pandemic are disproportionately low-income and minority households34—the very households that depend the most on LIHEAP funding.”
In offering one poignant example, the findings of DUKE’s study pointed out that “the Southeast is particularly vulnerable to energy insecurity, a chronic problem with roots in the historical racial and economic inequities of the region.35 The region has some of the lowest energy rates in the contiguous U.S. yet has average residential electric bills of over $130/month—the highest in the contiguous U.S. As a result, low-income Southerners spend a disproportionate amount of their income on energy, and they often struggle to do so. The LIHEAP funds have an important role to play in mitigating these difficulties, as they provide direct bill assistance and weatherization assistance to those in need. This program, however, does not reach the majority of Southerners struggling to make ends meet.”
Closing their study with conclusions and recommendations, DUKE began by pointing a spotlight on the fact that “this preliminary exploration of LIHEAP has uncovered areas ripe for additional research and discussion. While attention has been drawn to these research areas throughout the policy brief, specific questions to investigate are highlighted: (1) The disparity in the percentage of LIHEAP funds used nationally for heating assistance (51%) vs. cooling assistance (5%) is notable. Why are funds more likely to be used for heating assistance than cooling assistance?”
DUKE wrapped up by posing several additional compelling questions in their findings, beginning with a query that “given the use of the ‘old’ formula continued emphasis on heating cold homes with the first $2 billion of LIHEAP funding, people in cold-weather states are favored. Is the South getting its fair share of LIHEAP funding? Why do some states (e.g., Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia) elect not to provide cooling assistance, despite having high summer temperatures? How many households apply for LIHEAP but are rejected, and for what reasons?” The Nicolas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions recommended in their study summary that “investigating how states report their average benefit numbers would be useful for better understanding the total average benefits that households are receiving.”
Based on this comprehensive examination of the most current LIHEAP numbers available and measuring their substantial positive impact in the lives of those the energy assistance helped during the pandemic. More generally, DUKE’s findings substantially demonstrate the program’s continued vibrancy and essential value to improving the lives of those who use LIHEAP season in and out, and perhaps most importantly, that lives would be in danger without its continued existence and utilization by MILLIONS of families around the U.S.
Reporting by JB
GOVERNORS STEP UP IN THE FIGHT FOR LIHEAP & ENERGY ASSISTANCE
After freezing its way through another brutal winter of below-zero temperatures and skyrocketing heating bills across the state, Governor Tony Evers gave the families he serves the welcome news that over $21 million would be provided by the state in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Administration and the Public Service Commission to help cover past-due utility bills for more than 36,000 customers through LIHEAP’s local Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program (WHEAP). Acknowledging that “this year has been tough for folks and families, and we know there are so many who’ve struggled to make ends meet. That’s why we’re working every day to ensure families, our state, and our economy can bounce back from this pandemic, and part of that is making sure households across the state can keep their lights on and their utilities running.”
In neighboring Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that that nearly $80 million in LIHEAP aid would be rushed out via a new Utility Disconnection Avoidance Program to meet “the urgent need to address climate change, revitalize our state, and create jobs means that now is the time to transition to a clean energy economy, and this Earth Day, I’m taking action to protect our residents and the environment. By expanding assistance for Illinois utility customers, we’re making a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of customers at risk for disconnection right now — and by redirecting Illinois’ fleet of vehicles to prioritize low-emission and zero-emission vehicles, we’re setting the next generation of residents up for a better future. My administration is committed to making Illinois a leader in clean energy and an equitable economy, and I’m proud to take another step toward fulfilling that mission.”
Next door in Missouri, Governor Mike Parson, and his team shared the good news after working overtime to finalize new deadlines extending winter heating bill due dates through the end of May. This latest move came after taking steps in February to announced that the LIHEAP Energy Crisis Intervention Program had pledged $800 per eligible family in need of energy assistance to pay off pending disconnect notices looming as daily anxiety over many Missourians who “have spent a lot more time at home due to COVID-19, especially those learning and working remotely, which has caused some families to have higher than normal energy bills. Expanding the current LIHEAP Energy Assistance heating program time frame and the household income eligibility for this year’s heating and cooling programs will help relieve more families of this financial strain. Extreme cold temperatures this winter, particularly during the month of February, also led to abnormally high utility bills for many households. LIHEAP is a great resource to assist with these costs, and we encourage Missourians to take advantage of the program to help pay off outstanding winter balances.”
Back East in Pennsylvania, utilities were stepping up – in part at the state’s direction – to make similar relief funds available, MetEd spokesperson Todd Meyers affirmed in the same spirit that “we recognize that many of our Met-Ed customers continue to have trouble making ends meet as Covid-19 takes a bite out of their income. The brand new Emergency Rental Assistance Program helps renters overcome pandemic-related financial hardships with rent and utility costs, including electric bills. The special program takes its place alongside an established suite of other utility assistance programs that can help eligible Met-Ed customers pay overdue bills. People will need to act quickly, however, because some of the programs will only have money available until funds are exhausted. We can even help those Met-Ed customers who earn too much money to be eligible for customer assistance programs. All they need to do is pick up the phone and talk with our customer service representatives to work out a payment plan so they can chip away at past-due balances. Initiating that call is imperative. We can’t know if a customer is having financial difficulties and needs assistance unless they tell us.”
Reporting by J.B.
Upper Midwest Feels the Chill of Skyrocketing Heating Bills
Up in Wisconsin, a similar drum of concern was beating in the anxious hearts of vulnerable residents as the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin announced a similar end approaching to moratoriums, as PSC Chairwoman Rebecca Cameron Valcq similarly cautioned that “I encourage all who are behind in their utility bills to contact their utility and work out a payment plan, and for those who are struggling to pay, to seek out available public assistance funds,” doing her best to defend her agency’s decision with the note that “our challenge during this pandemic has been to balance public health with the ability of utilities to continue to provide safe and reliable service. We are successfully doing that.”
Facing a Natural Gas surge due to freezing weather in February, this past month, local CBS Affiliate Channel 4 reported that in swift reaction, “proposals getting bipartisan support in the Minnesota Legislature would help offset increased natural gas bills for low-income Minnesotans triggered by the February polar vortex, which caused supply disruptions and a surge in demand that led to skyrocketing prices. The severe weather event cost utility companies hundreds of millions of dollars. For CenterPoint Energy alone, that cost was $500 million over a 10-day period in mid-February, one-and-a-half times greater than the company’s entire gas costs for the previous fiscal year. The spike translates to an estimated extra $200 to $400 on Minnesotans’ gas bills this year.”
As Minnesota Public Utility Commissioner Katie Sieben predicted that “millions of Minnesotans will see dramatic financial impacts,” with Bill Grant, executive director of Minnesota Community Action Partnership, adding that “many families have had to make the difficult choice to defer utility bill payments during this time, the gas price spike surcharge will only add to this misery.” The Minnesota Department of Commerce has already doubled its energy assistance amount from $600 to $1200, while New Ulm Public Utilities director Kris Manderfeld, speaking on the local impact noted a jump in her city of 13,500 of a gas bill rocketing from $727,000 in January to $7.5 Million in February, and expecting an increase in March, pointed out the pressure local communities were facing as “that’s a huge increase in the cost of natural gas for one month. Just the three small towns that New Ulm Public Utilities works with saw an increase in their gas supply cost of over $900,000.”
Channel 4 reported among other remedies in the works that “The legislature is evaluating solutions of its own. Bills in the House and Senate — sponsored by a Democrat and Republican, respectively — that advanced this week would help low-income Minnesotans shoulder the additional financial burden at a time when they are already struggling due to the pandemic. The legislative proposals would allocate $15 million for zero-interest five-year loans to help municipal utilities defray costs that could hit consumers as early as this month. For state-regulated utilities like CenterPoint and Xcel Energy, those surcharges will appear later.”
Another aggressive measure sponsored jointly by Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. David Senjem, R-Rochester, intended to distribute $100 million to customers who qualified for emergency assistance and another $15 million for municipal utilities in need of help, with Rep. Long still careful to emphasize that “this just dwarfs the scale of anything that we have in place to protect those (low-income) folks, so that’s a really urgent need.” Senator Senjem added that “we’ve got some people here that have enough problems with meeting the daily expenses anyway and a substantive hit on their gas bill like this is probably something they’re not going to be able to handle.”
Sources:
State moratorium on utility disconnections to end April 15, 2021 (wsaw.com)
Minnesota lawmakers look to help customers deal with natural gas price spike | MinnPost