WASHINGTON – A supplemental grant of $1.925 million, announced today, will bring Rhode Island’s total aid under the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to $20.9 million for fiscal 2008.

“The release of the LIHEAP contingency funds is great news for Rhode Island families,” U.S. Rep. James Langevin said in announcing the grants. “Running a household is a challenge for so many in our community right now, and every bit of assistance we can offer is needed.”

“I am pleased that President Bush listened to Congress and finally released this funding,” added U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who spearheaded the drive for the money’s release.

In June, he and 44 other senators – including fellow Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse – sent a bipartisan letter to President George W. Bush, urging him to release the LIHEAP money. In July, Langevin and other members of the New England congressional delegation also joined the push. And last month, Reed sent another letter to reiterate the request, while the region’s governors banded together to also seek the release of the LIHEAP contingency funds. (READ MORE)

“This new infusion of federal aid will provide real assistance for Rhode Islanders who continue to struggle with record high energy prices,” Reed said in a statement this afternoon. It “will allow more states to deliver LIHEAP benefits to people in need and prevent thousands of working families and seniors in Rhode Island from having their utilities shut off.”

Whitehouse lauded the release as “welcome news” but added: “With oil prices near $100 a barrel, we need to do more.

“I hope the Senate will have an opportunity to pass, and that it will pass, the ‘Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act’ before it adjourns,” he said. That measure (S. 3186 and H.R. 6427) had been killed in the final days of the last legislative session.

“Senator Reed has been a tireless and recognized advocate on behalf of Rhode Island families in need of energy assistance, and I’m proud to stand with him in this effort,” Whitehouse added.

Meanwhile, Langevin has co-sponsored a House measure – “To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify the conditions for the release of products from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve Account, and for other purposes” (HR 6473) – that would allow the U.S. secretary of energy to release fuel from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve if the price of home heating oil continues to hover above $4 per gallon. Proceeds from the sale of fuel from the reserve would help fund LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).

LIHEAP aid is distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the form of block grants to agencies such as the R.I. Office of Energy Resources (OER), which administers Rhode Island’s LIHEAP and WAP programs.

Last year, nearly 30,000 Rhode Island households received LIHEAP assistance to help heat their homes or pay delinquent utility bills so they could re-establish service.

In the past, the state’s annual LIHEAP grants have ranged from a low of $8.9 million for fiscal 1999 to a high of $23 million for fiscal 2006, the state energy office said in a statement on its Web site. But for the federal government’s fiscal year 2009, which begins Oct. 1, the office is predicting it will receive only $12 million to $14 million, making it possible to assist about 20,000 families.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently projected that natural gas and heating oil will be at record highs this winter, Reed and Whitehouse noted. Home heating bills this winter are expected to rise 30 percent compared with last winter for households using heating oil, and 19 percent for those that heat with natural gas, the EIA said. (READ MORE)

“Congress needs to do all it can to provide people the heating assistance they need before cold weather strikes,” Langevin said. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues from New England to push this issue in the coming weeks.”

The is a block-grant program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The local program is administered by the R.I. Office of Energy Resources (OER). For additional information about the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and other energy-efficiency and assistance programs for low-income Rhode Islanders, visit www.energy.ri.gov.