Low Income Energy Assistance Program provides winter financial relief

With the forecast in the high 70s this weekend, most people's thoughts will be far from the brutal winter just around the corner. The local Human Resources Development Council hopes to remind people cold temperatures are right ahead.

Friday is the beginning of this year's Low Income Energy Assistance Program.

The program is designed to prevent the winter from being more harsh because of financial struggle, by helping low income people to pay their energy bills, among other things.

To qualify for the program an applicant's household must make below the gross income limit for that household size.

Federal statutes define the limit as "150 percent of the poverty level or 60 percent of the state median income."

The LIEAP newsletter, distributed by the local HRDC, has a table of income limits. For example, a household of one must make less than $21,660 per year, or a household of four must make less than $44,100 to qualify.

The second requirement of the assistance program is that the applicant have less than a certain amount in financial assets. This includes bank accounts, stocks, bonds and land over one quarter of an acre.

The chart distributed by the HRDC lists the maximum holdings for an individual as $9,930, or a household of four as $16,885.

Aside from helping with current bills, enrolling in LIEAP also makes applicants eligible for two other programs offered by the development center.

The Energy Share program is a non-profit program that helps people with past-due energy bills that are about to have service disconnected.

The program offers a loan of the amount owed, to ensure that the service stays connected, that must eventually be repaid, though at a more forgiving pace.

"Once disconnected, it's really hard to get reconnected," said Sarah Singer, one of the LIEAP staff. "(With) all of the fees and security deposits and past dues amounts. It's a hefty amount."

The assistance program can place applicants on a list of people to be helped with weatherization.

A weatherization auditor evaluates a residence — whether owned or rented — for what can be done to reduce energy consumption to lessen the amount charged in the first place.

The program helped 811 applicants last winter.

The staff hopes to receive more applications this year.

"The outreach hasn't been as strong as it should be, across the entire state," Singer said.

In an effort to improve this they've printed a newsletter with information and have distributed it to businesses across the HRDC service area, including Hill, Blaine and Liberty counties.

Some businesses have brought program staffers in to speak to their employees about it.

Singer said that many people don't think they qualify for service or that they don't want it because of the "low income" in the title.

"People don't view themselves as low income," Singer said. "They don't want to."

But some people need it. Jessica Sewell, a single mother two, ages 5 and 3, who works at the HRDC, said she didn't know what to do after her recent divorce.

"My energy bill was a huge thing," Sewell said. "I went in and signed up. They told me what was covered, what wasn't, how much I could get, when it ran out."

She was quite low on the weatherization list, which gives preference to elderly or disabled applicants. Though when it was discovered that her furnace was leaking dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, and her children were at risk, she was moved to the top. Now it is being replaced for her by the program.

While Sewell recognizes critics of the programs, she believes, for some, it is a necessity.

"Some people think that it's a free ride," Sewell said. "But that's $200 I couldn't afford. It was either paying my power bill or feeding my kids."

LIEAP is the result of a federal grant, passed by Congress in 1981. The funds go through the U.S. Department of Public Health and Human Services to the states based on need.