Sept. 2, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission is asking the state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Congress to support a program that helps poor people pay for energy.
The PUC asks for “the highest level of funding possible” for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for fiscal 2026.
In the statement, the PUC says “This funding is essential because the rising costs of basic human needs, including high energy cotss, are making it more difficult for many Americans to hear their homes.”
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission regulates public utilities and holds hearings on rate increases.
Federal funding for LIHEAP helped 230,000 Pennsylvanians heat their homes with electricity and natural gas in 2024-25, according to the commission.
Here’s a cut-and-paste version of the PUC statement:
HARRISBURG – In a letter to the Commonwealth’s Congressional Delegation, Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commissioners are urging Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in Fiscal Year 2026 and to protect LIHEAP from any reductions that would jeopardize Pennsylvania families in their homes this winter.
In their joint letter, PUC Chairman Stephen M. DeFrank, Vice Chair Kimberly M. Barrow and Commissioner Kathryn L. Zerfuss called maximizing and protecting LIHEAP funding at the highest levels possible “essential.”
“This funding is essential because the rising costs of basic human needs, including high energy costs, are making it more difficult for many Americans to heat their homes.”
The commissioners cited the key role LIHEAP plays in enabling income-eligible households to pay energy bills and maintain essential heating services – thereby decreasing the number of unpaid accounts and arrearages, stabilizing utility company revenue, and reducing the need for rate increases that impact all customers.
During the 2024-25 heating season, federal LIHEAP funding was vital in helping more than 230,000 Pennsylvania electric and natural gas customers keep their homes warm and safe – providing over $152 million in aid and helping approximately 46,000 utility customers avoid service terminations and maintain their service.
The commissioners noted that LIHEAP funds are, in many instances, the only source of funding available to help senior citizens, children, and individuals with disabilities and sever illnesses maintain or restore their heating services. Pennsylvania also uses LIHEAP funds to support weatherization and energy-saving upgrades that result in reduced demand on the energy grid to keep energy prices stable.
Additionally, in their letter the commissioners thanked Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation for their help last spring in preserving the remaining $19 million in LIHEAP funding that had been allocated to the Commonwealth for the 2024-25 heating season. At the time, commissioners raised concerns with recent staff reductions in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including staff that administer LIHEAP, and the impact of those staffing reductions on remaining program funds for this year and, moving forward, whether annual funding for this program is in danger of being eliminated.
About LIHEAP
LIHEAP is a federally funded program administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) that helps with home heating bills. Assistance is available for renters and homeowners. LIHEAP provides cash and crisis grants to households with incomes at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines to pay for utility bills and deliverable fuels for home-heating and other home energy needs. The anticipated opening date for Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 LIHEAP season is Nov. 3, 2025.
The PUC works together with PA DHS to make sure that eligible Pennsylvania families have access to essential LIHEAP funds each year to help them keep their heat on and stay safe and warm, especially during the winter months.
About the PUC
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.
Visit the PUC’s website at puc.pa.gov for recent news releases and video of select proceedings. You can also follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Search for the “Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission” or “PA PUC” on your favorite social media channel for updates on utility issues and other helpful consumer information.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
The administration closed down the whole division of the Federal department (HHS?) that administered LIHEAP near the end of last winter, so there’s literally nothing for Congress to provide funding to. Unless the program is relaunched under the Energy Department the PUC is going to have to figure out how to convince our own state legislature to fund it, or to force the electric, gas, and oil industry to do it privately, which is likely what Project 2025 wants.
Bob Frable mailto:bob_in_jersey@yahoo.com
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