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looks like then.
Congressman Scott

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much.
>> Thank you so much. Good

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to be with you.
>> As the weather turns

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colder, we all push up the
thermostat to heat our

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homes, families who need
financial help to pay their

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utility bills may have to
wait because of the

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government shutdown,
despite it being over last

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year, nearly 190,000
Wisconsin households

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received nearly $137
million in assistance, an

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average of about $315 per
household. The Wisconsin

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Energy Assistance Program
receives both state and

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federal funding. Now, the
state funding is secure,

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but the federal funds
aren't expected to be

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released until December or
January. Here with more

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information on this, we are
joined by Assistant Deputy

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Secretary Diana moss from
the Wisconsin Department of

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Administration. And thanks
very much for being here.

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>> Yeah, thanks for having
me.

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ended the shutdown fully
fund the low income Home

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energy assistance program?
>> Not yet. It reopened the

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government, which is great.
And now, as we understand

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it, our LIHEAP folks in the
federal government can get

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to work in trying to
calculate what the

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allocations will be to each
state. And that's what we

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expect is still going to
take some time.

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>> And so how much delayed
is this from a usual year

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when states would get that
allocation.

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>> Yeah. At this point you
know I would say we're

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predicting a month or more
delayed from a typical year.

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It's typical that we don't
yet have our dollars at the

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beginning of the heating
season, but we would

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normally know our award
allocation and we don't yet

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know that. And so part of
that is because of the

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federal government shutdown.
But now that the

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government's open again, we
expect they're going to

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take a few weeks to work
that out.

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>> And how will it affect
the people who are trying

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to apply for that kind of
assistance? Will that also

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be delayed to them?
>> So they absolutely

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should apply now. They
should continue applying.

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Applications are open and
our providers are taking

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those applications and
available to assist in that

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way so they can find out if
they're eligible or

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ineligible. And that helps
us so that once we receive

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the dollars, we're able to
administer those benefits.

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But the good news is folks
should continue to apply

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throughout the season
because if they're eligible

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today, but a circumstance
changes, we will continue

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to recalculate that
eligibility throughout the

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season.
based on income I trust.

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>> That's right.
>> So does Governor Evers

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emergency order this week
relating to housing or an

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energy crisis relate to
this?

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supplemental support to
help those folks in need.

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We know that these
assistance programs support

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and serve the same
communities that lie. He

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continues to serve in the
state.

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>> So if President Trump, I
understand that President

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Trump laid off the entire
staff that administers this

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LIHEAP, this federal
assistance Program for

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energy, how do you suspect
that will affect payments

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to states?
>> Yeah, it may continue to

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factor into the delay. It's
you know, we can assume

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with less folks dedicated
to working in this space,

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it might take longer to do
the work. So that's again,

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I think another factor that
we anticipate will

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contribute to the delay.
>> So what happens. We're

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back to shutdown talk now.
But what happens when the

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federal funding continuing
resolution expires on

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January 30th? Should the
energy assistance funds

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already have been made
available?

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>> We anticipate. So, yeah,
if they were not you know,

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we're having a different
conversation. The good news

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is state law in Wisconsin
prohibits disconnection

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April 15th. So we know that
folks will be safe in terms

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of their heat. You know,
utility companies won't be

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turning off their heat, but
we will absolutely have to

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figure out the funding if
we got to a future date

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where those dollars weren't
yet administered.

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>> How do people apply?
>> Yeah, they need to go to

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energy benefit.gov. And
that will give them all the

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information about where to
find their local provider.

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And they have options to
apply by phone, in person,

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mail or right online.
>> So should people expect

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the same amount of
assistance this year as

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they got last year?
>> We don't yet know

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because we don't yet have
our dollar amount for

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program year 26. We
anticipate it will be very

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similar to last year, but
we don't know until we get

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the award.
>> And the way it works is

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that if you apply for
assistance, you are

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eligible and you are given
assistance you that goes

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directly to your utility or
to yourself?

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the utility provider on
their behalf. And then we

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also the same program
supports if their furnace

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goes out and it's a crisis
situation, we would then

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support repair or
replacement of that furnace.

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But typically the most part
of these benefits go

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directly to the utility
company.