Connecticut Provides Supplemental Benefit for Gas and Electric Bills

The state of Connecticut will provide 64,300 low-income households a supplemental energy assistance benefit of $200 in order to spend the remainder of its FY 2009 LIHEAP allocation.

Governor M. Jodi Rell announced July 18 she is directing $13 million in LIHEAP funds for energy assistance and $1 million for furnace repair and replacement in the homes of LIHEAP recipients.

“Thanks to an unusually high level of energy assistance funding last winter, we are able to provide some additional help to families and single adults who are still dealing with the twin effects of high energy prices and a sluggish economy,” Governor Rell said. “This aid will go to people whose homes are heated with electricity or natural gas, since they typically receive less assistance during the winter than people who use heating oil, propane or other deliverable fuels."

Residents who signed up for LIHEAP last season will automatically receive a benefit, which will be made to their utility company account by the Department of Social Services, the LIHEAP grantee. 

The one-time boost in funding is part of Governor Rell’s larger plan to allocate the $28 million the state has remaining in LIHEAP funds. The state will carry over $12 million of these funds to cover start-up costs for the FY 2010 program, which begins November 1.

Earlier last week, the Governor announced that, pending federal approval, she plans to spend up to $2 million in LIHEAP funds to help cover last winter’s heating bills for Connecticut’s homeless and domestic violence shelters.       

Source: Governor’s Office and Connecticut newspapers