Low-Income South Dakotans to Receive Additonal Help with Heating Bills
Low-Income South Dakotans to receive additional help with heating bills
More than 6,000 low-income South Dakotans will receive additional energy assistance to help pay their heating bills this winter, according to S.D. Gov. Mike Rounds.
The funding is part of an additional $100 million in federal emergency funds being awarded to states from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In South Dakota, the DSS Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) will receive $696,723 in emergency funding. The state's Indian tribes will receive $150,666 to provide additional energy assistance.
"The additional funds are being allocated to assist states and low-income households coping with much higher heating bills this winter," the governor said. "The emergency funding will allow DSS to provide extra assistance to those South Dakota families that have used all of their energy assistance allocation and those who will soon run out of assistance."
DSS will provide an additional $150 of energy assistance to households that have run out of assistance as of Jan. 31. An additional $100 of energy assistance will be obligated to households that have less than $150 of assistance remaining as of Jan. 31, the governor said. The 6,020 South Dakota households to receive additional energy assistance will receive notification of the extra funding from DSS' LIEAP Office.
This is the second allocation of emergency energy assistance that the state has received this winter. The governor said South Dakota also received $847,389 in December, which it used to help offset the state's cost of providing energy assistance to additional households.
South Dakota's Low Income Energy Assistance Program helps pay low-income families' heating costs by making direct payments to their energy suppliers. To be eligible for assistance, the governor said a household's total gross income may not exceed maximum income guidelines and the household must be responsible for paying its home heating costs.
LIEAP will continue to take applications for energy assistance this heating season until March 15, 2005.
http://www.state.sd.us/governor/