looks like then. Congressman Scott
much. >> Thank you so much. Good
to be with you. >> As the weather turns
colder, we all push up the thermostat to heat our
homes, families who need financial help to pay their
utility bills may have to wait because of the
government shutdown, despite it being over last
year, nearly 190,000 Wisconsin households
received nearly $137 million in assistance, an
average of about $315 per household. The Wisconsin
Energy Assistance Program receives both state and
federal funding. Now, the state funding is secure,
but the federal funds aren't expected to be
released until December or January. Here with more
information on this, we are joined by Assistant Deputy
Secretary Diana moss from the Wisconsin Department of
Administration. And thanks very much for being here.
>> Yeah, thanks for having me.
ended the shutdown fully fund the low income Home
energy assistance program? >> Not yet. It reopened the
government, which is great. And now, as we understand
it, our LIHEAP folks in the federal government can get
to work in trying to calculate what the
allocations will be to each state. And that's what we
expect is still going to take some time.
>> And so how much delayed is this from a usual year
when states would get that allocation.
>> Yeah. At this point you know I would say we're
predicting a month or more delayed from a typical year.
It's typical that we don't yet have our dollars at the
beginning of the heating season, but we would
normally know our award allocation and we don't yet
know that. And so part of that is because of the
federal government shutdown. But now that the
government's open again, we expect they're going to
take a few weeks to work that out.
>> And how will it affect the people who are trying
to apply for that kind of assistance? Will that also
be delayed to them? >> So they absolutely
should apply now. They should continue applying.
Applications are open and our providers are taking
those applications and available to assist in that
way so they can find out if they're eligible or
ineligible. And that helps us so that once we receive
the dollars, we're able to administer those benefits.
But the good news is folks should continue to apply
throughout the season because if they're eligible
today, but a circumstance changes, we will continue
to recalculate that eligibility throughout the
season. based on income I trust.
>> That's right. >> So does Governor Evers
emergency order this week relating to housing or an
energy crisis relate to this?
supplemental support to help those folks in need.
We know that these assistance programs support
and serve the same communities that lie. He
continues to serve in the state.
>> So if President Trump, I understand that President
Trump laid off the entire staff that administers this
LIHEAP, this federal assistance Program for
energy, how do you suspect that will affect payments
to states? >> Yeah, it may continue to
factor into the delay. It's you know, we can assume
with less folks dedicated to working in this space,
it might take longer to do the work. So that's again,
I think another factor that we anticipate will
contribute to the delay. >> So what happens. We're
back to shutdown talk now. But what happens when the
federal funding continuing resolution expires on
January 30th? Should the energy assistance funds
already have been made available?
>> We anticipate. So, yeah, if they were not you know,
we're having a different conversation. The good news
is state law in Wisconsin prohibits disconnection
April 15th. So we know that folks will be safe in terms
of their heat. You know, utility companies won't be
turning off their heat, but we will absolutely have to
figure out the funding if we got to a future date
where those dollars weren't yet administered.
>> How do people apply? >> Yeah, they need to go to
energy benefit.gov. And that will give them all the
information about where to find their local provider.
And they have options to apply by phone, in person,
mail or right online. >> So should people expect
the same amount of assistance this year as
they got last year? >> We don't yet know
because we don't yet have our dollar amount for
program year 26. We anticipate it will be very
similar to last year, but we don't know until we get
the award. >> And the way it works is
that if you apply for assistance, you are
eligible and you are given assistance you that goes
directly to your utility or to yourself?
the utility provider on their behalf. And then we
also the same program supports if their furnace
goes out and it's a crisis situation, we would then
support repair or replacement of that furnace.
But typically the most part of these benefits go
directly to the utility company.