Low-income Connecticut households could receive an extra $410 each in heating assistance this coming winter compared with the prior year based on a plan developed by Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration and approved Tuesday by three legislative committees.
But the $1,760 maximum assistance level projected for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program still is $560 per household below aid offered in the winter of 2022-23 and $1,220 off top grants provided in 2020-21, prompting advocates to again press state officials to spend more.
With lawmakers already anticipating heavy pressure next year to budget more for education, social services and other core programs, leaders were unsure whether added dollars would be available for heating assistance.
“We’re going to take all requests into consideration and not make any commitments right now,” said Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, who is co-chairwoman of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee, which endorsed the administration’s plan in a joint meeting with the Human Services and Energy & Technology committees.
Legislators and Lamont propped up struggling public colleges and universities, social service programs, child care and mental health services this fiscal year with nearly $700 million in temporary funds that won’t be available in the next budget cycle.
Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chairman of Energy and Technology, said after Tuesday’s meeting that energy assistance is important to both parties, but advocates for many vital programs are already appealing for help when the next legislative session starts in January.
“My guess is the clamor is only going to get louder,” he said.
Though the CEAP program is run by the state in cooperation with nonprofit Community Action Agencies, it primarily distributes federal dollars sent to Connecticut through the Low-Income Household Energy Assistance Program, commonly known as LIHEAP.
And in recent years, Congress has whittled LIHEAP funding down to pre-pandemic levels, even though demand is far higher than it was in the winter of 2019-20.
The preliminary $88.5 million CEAP budget the Department of Social Services presented to the three committees Tuesday includes a $78.4 million federal LIHEAP grant — which matches last year’s — some additional federal funds from a second grant and nearly $8 million unspent from last winter’s program.
But those leftover dollars don’t mean all needs were met. The Lamont administration and legislators have scaled back benefit amounts in recent years to compensate for shrinking federal funds and growing demand.
The administration projects the CEAP program will assist 109,500 households this winter, up 6.5% from one year ago.
Households with incomes at or below 60% of the state median income — $87,511 for a family of four — would be eligible for one of six “basic” grants ranging from $180 to $530 and awarded based on income levels. Households also could apply for one to three “crisis” benefits, each worth $410. The number of “crisis” grants available also depends on earnings.
Advocates note the new maximum benefit of $1,760 per household is well below the $2,980 ceiling offered in 2020-21. The $4,825 peak provided in the 2021-22 program was an outlier. State officials augmented the program with federal pandemic grants to help families adjusting to the expiration of enhanced federal unemployment benefits and tax credits, also ordered during the worst of the coronavirus outbreak.
But the maximum benefit shrunk to $2,320 in 2022-23 and to $1,350 last winter.
The state’s Low-Income Energy and Water Advisory Board last year began urging Lamont and the General Assembly to supplement CEAP with state dollars, especially given the huge reserves Connecticut has amassed since 2017.
The rainy day fund holds a record $4.1 billion, equal to 18% of the General Fund, and roughly $8.5 billion in additional surpluses has been used — or will be this fall — to reduce Connecticut’s huge unfunded pension liabilities.
And a controversial savings program that is supposed to capture unstable tax receipts — money likely to come in big one year and vanish the next — is projected to collect close to $1.2 billion this fiscal year.
But Lamont has been resistant to recurring annual state support for the CEAP program, arguing it is a federal responsibility. And his fellow Democrats in the state legislature’s majority have backed the governor on this to date, though they did dedicate $8.5 million last winter — not to boost benefits but to guard against a potential shortfall in funds.
Nora Duncan, vice chairwoman of the advisory board, urged the committees Tuesday to again consider tapping the state’s flush coffers to help keep vulnerable households warm.
“We are concerned that the basis benefit is not enough” she said.
The advisory board’s appeal was echoed by two other advocacy groups.
“We really need to contemplate and consider increasing the … benefit levels” closer to pre-COVID levels, said Rhonda Evans, executive director of the Connecticut Association for Community Action, who urged state officials to “figure out some mechanism” to pay for this.
Connecticut has other programs, public and private, that supplement CEAP.
A rate discount program can help income-eligible households that use electric-based heat secure either a 10% or 50% discount.
Operation Fuel, a Hartford-based nonprofit, has an annual budget that raises between $5 million and $6 million. Gannon Long, its chief program and policy officer, said Operation Fuel can help cover some of the need that CEAP doesn’t address.
“We know that the gap is greater than we are able to close,” she told lawmakers Tuesday, adding that the extra $410 per household in the Lamont administration’s plan for CEAP this winter “is not a huge increase considering how much costs are continuing to climb.”
And while some legislators have been noncommittal about allocating state funds regularly to bolster winter heating assistance, others said Connecticut can afford to do more.
“I think it is important that Connecticut have some skin in the game,” said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chairman of the Human Services Committee.
“I think that we need to fix it,” Sen. Eric. Berthel of Watertown, ranking GOP senator on the Appropriations Committee, said of generally eroding CEAP assistance levels, even given this year’s increase. “There are people that need us to help them, and no one should ever be cold in their home in the winter time in Connecticut.”
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
