September 30, 2016—When it comes to customer outreach, Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) takes a somewhat different approach. Each year, PWP offers positions to students from Outward Bound Adventures (OBA) to perform door-to-door outreach for PWP and SoCal Gas in the Pasadena area. The students, after some training and with the help of an assigned mentor, inform residents about water conservation and energy savings programs that may be available to them and answer any questions those residents may have.

September 16, 2016—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released the final $14.4 million of funding available to LIHEAPs. This final round of funding is available to all LIHEAP grantees with complete plans for federal Fiscal Year 2016. The third release, in addition to the first release of $3.017 billion in October 2015 and $335.5 million on April 1, 2016, brings the total LIHEAP funding to just under $3.37 billion in FFY 2016 for all state, territory, and Native American /tribal organization grantees.

August 26, 2016—The Exelon-Pepco merger is still facing opposition in Washington D.C. The District’s Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the merger in March but was asked to reconsider it by the D.C. Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) and Office of Attorney General (OAG). The request was denied in June, and the two agencies recently announced they are taking the PSC to court to try and have the merger overturned.

August 5, 2016—The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) is facing a $45 million budget reduction in FY 2017, which will mean changes to how LIHEAP is operated in the state.

This recently-announced reduction comes on the heels of DHS cutting its staff by 900 employees earlier this year because of a $79 million cut to DHS’ initial 2016 budget. The additional $45 million in FY 2017 is to help address a projected $100 million shortfall in the department’s budget. DHS plans to reduce:

July 29, 2016—With 2016 on record as the warmest year in the United States since record-keeping began in 1880, and the remainder of the year looking to follow suit, LIHEAP personnel are trying to help vulnerable populations during this summer’s nationwide extreme heat event.