ST. PAUL
Congress needs to restore funding for the nation's low-income heating assistance program to last year's levels, or 40,000 Minnesota households will not get aid this winter, U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman said at a news conference Friday in Minneapolis.
The state got $152.6 million last year from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, but this year it has gotten less than half that, $73.5 million.
With this year's allocation, the state estimates that it can help 128,000 households, down from the more than 172,000 households that received LIHEAP grants last year, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which administers the program.
The state has reduced the average grant amount to $400 from $500 last year to stretch its dollars, but money has nearly run out, a Commerce spokesman said.
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The Community Action Partnership for Ramsey and Washington counties, which runs the state's largest heating-assistance program, has awarded more than 7,000 grants so far, but once it finishes processing the applications it received in November, any available money will be spent, said Catherine Fair, director of the energy-assistance program.
More than 800 applications have arrived since Dec. 1, but Fair encouraged people in need to continue to apply. Eligible families will be put on a waiting list.
The state's Cold Weather Rule is in effect until April 15, offering some protection to consumers
who can't pay their bills. But utilities still can shut off the heat if residents haven't tried to work out a payment plan with the companies.
Houston-based CenterPoint Energy, the state's largest natural-gas provider, has had 4,194 disconnections so far this season and bills in arrears to the tune of $6.9 million, utility spokeswoman Becca Virden reported.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, which does not shut off gas or electricity under the Cold Weather Rule, has seen the total of bills in arrears jump to $26 million, up 10 percent from the same time last year, said Pat Boland, the utility's manager of customer policy and assistance.
Franken said he is co-sponsoring the LIHEAP Protection Act, a bill that would maintain nationwide funding for the assistance program at $4.7 billion, last year's level. The bill was authored by New England Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine; Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island; and Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
The LIHEAP program has distributed $1.95 billion so far this year under a continuing resolution using President Barack Obama's recommendation. Congress must act by Dec. 18, when the continuing resolution expires.
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If it doesn't pass a bill, it could approve another continuing resolution, said John Harvanko, Minnesota's director of the Office of Energy Assistance Programs.
In the past, Congress has released more money to the LIHEAP program during the winter after an initial allocation. But there is never a guarantee it will happen.
On one of the coldest days of the season, Rothman and Franken held their news conference outside the North Minneapolis home of Dana Finn, a recent LIHEAP recipient, to dramatize the possibility of getting no more aid.
"Last night, it almost reached zero," Rothman said. "And there should be zero chance of this happening."
Franken said he believes the bill to restore funding to last year's levels will pass.
"This is a bipartisan issue," he said. "Republicans get cold and Democrats get cold."
But the partisan gridlock in Washington has local officials worried.
Finn, a 34-year-old single mother who lost her full-time and part-time jobs two years ago, had her gas turned off last year and applied for heating assistance for the first time.
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She just received her second LIHEAP check this year, for $548. That will keep the heat on for now.
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo can be reached at 651-228-5475. Follow him at twitter.com/suzukamo.
NEED HELP WITH HEATING BILLS?
To find out how to apply for heating assistance, go to www.staywarm.mn.gov or call (800) 657-3710.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
