Copyright Hartford Courant
While thousands of Connecticut households stand to lose federal nutrition aid in the coming days, key energy assistance grants — also imperiled by the federal shutdown — will be paid out temporarily with state dollars. Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced late last week the state would supplant vanishing federal Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds with dollars from the state’s common cash pool for the duration of the shutdown. This likely will cost Connecticut millions of dollars monthly, though Lamont’s budget office says the state can seek reimbursement from Washington once the federal funding crisis has been resolved. “We do live in New England, we have cold weather, and people do need their heat kept on,” said Lamont’s budget spokesman, Chris Collibee. Leaders of the state’s Low Income Energy Water Advisory Board praised the administration for intervening in a program that otherwise would face a funding crisis as soon as next week. “It’s a relief to hear that the administration is taking a proactive approach to making sure that needy households get the assistance they need,” said Nora Duncan, vice chair of the advisory board and AARP’s Connecticut director. Claire Coleman, Connecticut’s consumer counsel and chairwoman of the advisory board, called the Lamont administration’s decision “a positive step” and said she fears stalled federal funding for nutrition aid and other social programs could trigger even greater demand for energy assistance, which already is projected to rise. Many households may need “to triage bills in a certain order,” choosing between paying rent, grocery and heating bills depending on available resources, Coleman added. Though known as the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, or CEAP, the state’s chief winter heating aid service is funded almost entirely using federal LIHEAP grants. The state Department of Social Services projected last August that more than 100,375 households would need heating assistance this winter, up more than 12% from one year ago. The program serves households earning 60% or less of the statewide median income, which is $91,854 for a family of four. Projected spending for this winter’s program is up 3%, from $86.4 million to $89.2 million. The federal LIHEAP contribution for this winter remains flat at $81.7 million. The rest of the program budget largely is supported with unspent money left over from last winter’s assistance. When the federal shutdown began Oct. 1, stalling new LIHEAP funding, Lamont administration officials said those surplus dollars from last winter would be sufficient to fund processing of applications and other administrative costs through October. But once benefits start being issued Nov. 3, the program would be in trouble. Basic benefits this winter for “non-vulnerable households” would range from $295 to $595. For vulnerable households — which are categorized as any household with a member who is 60 or older, has a disability, or has a child that under age 6 — benefits would range from $345 to $645. The program also provides as many as three “crisis assistance” payments of $425 each for certain households that rely on deliverable fuels, such as home heating oil, and that have exhausted their basic benefit grants. The Connecticut Energy Assistance Program spends most of its budget between Nov. 1 and April 30, an average of about $14 million to $15 million per month. But the state likely won’t be advancing the program that much money from its own coffers. Collibee said Connecticut only would advance funds to cover CEAP benefits for households that use fuels typically supplied by non-utility commercial distributors, such as home heating oil. Customers who rely on electricity or natural gas from a licensed utility cannot be removed from service, even if a bill hasn’t been paid, from Nov. 1 through April 30. But these households still may struggle to pay large backlogged bills next spring, once the shutoff-protection period has ended, without CEAP assistance. The energy advisory board has been urging state officials in recent years — as federal LIHEAP funding has not kept pace with surging demand — to invest more state dollars to keep vulnerable households warm. Connecticut has amassed huge state budget surpluses, averaging more than $1.8 billion per year or 8% to 9% of the General Fund, since 2017. Most of those dollars have been used to build state budget reserves and to whittle down Connecticut’s hefty pension debt. But with ongoing cutbacks in federal assistance programs taking effect next year and in 2027, state officials need to reconsider their general reluctance to fund energy assistance more, said Coleman and advisory board member Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association. The hundreds of fuel oil delivery companies represented by CEMA wrote to state officials recently also urging them to keep the winter heating program afloat during the federal shutdown and protect vulnerable households, “This is matter of their safety and health,” Herb said. Keith M. Phaneuf is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).
