WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) decision to release $453 million to states throughout the country through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) means $3,080,909 will flow to Rhode Island from this installment, which, in addition to the $20.7 million already allocated to the state, brings the Ocean State’s total to approximately $23.8 million this year.

“With temperatures dropping and heating prices on the rise, this additional funding will provide an important measure of relief to many Rhode Islanders in need,” said Senator Reed, who, along with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), successfully led the bipartisan effort to increase funding for LIHEAP by $169 million between FY 2013 and FY 2014 as part of the bipartisan 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which the President signed into law earlier this month. 

In November, HHS released $2.93 billion in LIHEAP funding nationwide as part of the continuing resolution (CR) that kept the government operating.  The Consolidated Appropriations law includes a total of $3.425 billion for LIHEAP.

As a result of this additional funding and the budget certainty provided by the law, Reed sent multiple letters to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius this month urging the Obama administration to quickly distribute the remaining energy assistance benefits to families in need. 

“This is about protecting vulnerable Rhode Islanders and helping them through this difficult winter.  We need to quickly get these funds out to the community and I will continue to work with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to make smart investments in LIHEAP, weatherization, and other targeted programs aimed at reducing energy bills and fuel consumption,” said Reed.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the price of residential heating oil in Rhode Island is currently over $4 per gallon, and natural gas spot prices in New England spiked to over $78/MMBtu – more than 15 times the Henry Hub spot price of $5/MMBtu – during last week’s cold snap.  With nearly nine out of every ten homes in Rhode Island heated by natural gas or heating oil, the combination of plummeting temperatures and rising energy costs is hitting our constituents particularly hard this winter.  And this week the Providence Journal reported: “the approximately 40,000 Rhode Islanders who rely on help from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program are using up their grants faster than in previous years, according to the state Department of Human Services, which administers the overall program.”