Our reliable, dependable energy infrastructure ensures that when we need our homes warm in winter and cooled during hot summer days, we’ll be able to do so. However, there are many Americans struggling to make ends meet who occasionally need short-term help paying their energy bills.
Since 1981, help has been available through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). This essential program ensures that our country’s most vulnerable populations—such as senior citizens on fixed incomes and the desperately poor—have the assistance they need.
The LIHEAP program provides critical assistance to those who need it the most. When electricity demands run high during long stretches of high heat or bitter cold, those on fixed or limited incomes are hit the hardest. These populations are sometimes forced to choose whether to pay for food or heat when temperatures are below zero.
Heating and cooling are basic needs. When temperatures reach extremes, LIHEAP funding is there for those who need it. Millions of households rely on this life-saving assistance every year. We should continue to protect LIHEAP funding for the seniors and low-income families who need it.
Interested in learning more about the importance of the LIHEAP and how state policymakers can help families struggling financially due to COVID-19? Check out our episode of “The Current” with the National Energy Utility & Affordability Coalition’s Katrina Metzler.
Key Facts
9 out of 10 HOUSEHOLDS
helped by LIHEAP are home to a child under 18, an elderly resident, a veteran, or someone with a disability.
<$20,000 ANNUAL INCOME
The majority of households helped by LIHEAP have an annual income below $20,000.
4 OUT OF 5 FAMILIES
eligible for LIHEAP aid did not receive it in 2018.