Trying To Keep Warm In Connecticut

From the CT Mirror:

The General Assembly will consider emergency legislation Wednesday to spend $13.5 million to meet surging demand in winter energy assistance programs, top lawmakers announced late Tuesday.

The measure will designate $10 million for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, the state’s primary winter heating assistance service, and another $3.5 million for Operation Fuel, a Hartford-based energy assistance nonprofit.

Gov. Ned Lamont, who has been wary of using state funds to replace diminishing federal aid for energy assistance, indicated through a spokesman late Tuesday that he would support the measure.

CEAP, which is administered by the state Department of Social Services, distributes federal Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds and is facing severe cutbacks. Congress rolled back LIHEAP funding this year to pre-pandemic levels. Connecticut has about $85 million to distribute this winter — well below the $110 million-plus it awarded last year and the smallest amount since the winter of 2018-19.

“We have a responsibility to the people who live in this state, and if Congress isn’t going to put more money in, we need to ensure folks stay warm this winter,” said Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, co-chair of the Human Services Committee.

“We really have no choice,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, the panel’s other co-chair. “Folks aren’t going to make it through the winter otherwise.”

More than 70,280 households have been approved for CEAP benefits this winter through Jan. 27, according to Department of Social Services records. That’s up 10% from last winter.

State social services officials estimated last August that the maximum amount the poorest household could receive was $1,350, based on available federal funds. That’s down almost $1,000 from last year’s top benefit, while many other families stand to receive hundreds of dollars less than they did last winter.

And while CEAP primarily distributes federal funds, Connecticut’s Low-Income Energy Advisory Board, which includes representatives from state government, the AARP, energy distributors and social services agencies, urged the legislature to supplement the program with state dollars this winter.

Entering the heating season last fall, the advisory board asked for state funds matching 20% of the federal LIHEAP funding, or about $17 million.